BLACK ENTERPRISEcelebrates the 45th anniversary of its roster of the nation’s most successful black businesses—The BE 100s. To commemorate the significance of this collective’s widespread impact on black business and economic development as well as American industry over four decades, we have presented 45 milestone moments. As part of this tribute, we continue our yearlong countdown.

Maynard Jackson Becomes a Disrupter as Atlanta’s First Black Mayor

1974: Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson establishes first Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) program, which “sets aside” a percentage of government contracts for minority businesses and encourages major corporations to follow suit. That act creates legions of African American millionaires and expands scores of BE 100s companies, including H.J. Russell & Co., the nation’s largest black construction firm. Jackson would eventually launch two BE 100s companies: T.G.I Friday’s franchisee Jackmont Hospitality and investment bank Jackson Securities.

Confronting the ‘Old Boy’s Network’

(Black Enterprise Magazine, November 1975)

Jackson’s plan surfaced when he informed city leaders he was proceeding with the expansion of the then-named Hartsfield Airport. He shook up Atlanta’s old boy’s network with this: 25% of all contracts were allotted for minority firms. That those firms could land a big chunk of the project first valued at $ 450 million.

But some influential men in the South revolted, claiming the act was illegal. They urged the governor and state legislators to seize control of the airport expansion project from the Jackson regime. Yet Jackson did not flinch, reportedly stating: “We simply won’t build [the airport] if you don’t agree to this. You can have 75% of the project or you can have 100% of nothing. What is your choice?”

After a two-year battle, both sides agreed to a re-adjusted set-aside plan: a participation stake of 20% to 25% for minority-owned firms. Jackson action’s also set a benchmark for affirmative action programs nationally, including in big cities with large black populations.

In Atlanta, Jackson boosted the portion of contracts to minorities from under 1% in 1973 to roughly 39% five years later. Jackson’s efforts empowered the black middle-class, helped create many black millionaires and produce many BE 100s companies. Among them: H. J. Russell & Co., the nation’s largest black construction firm and No. 14 on the 2018 Top 100 list with $ 253 million in revenue.

“Jackson was like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when it came to ensuring African Americans got a chance to participate in the nation’s economic marketplace,” the late Herman Russell, chairman/CEO of the construction company, told Black Enterprise in 2009.

Russell added that his then $ 300 million company would not have been that size if not for Jackson’s policy. Russell added Jackson helped spur black development not only in Atlanta, but also nationally in cities including Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Boston.

Another victory for minority firms under Jackson’s watch came when he helped bring the 1990 Olympics to Atlanta. For instance, $ 10.7 million went to minority suppliers, and over 60% of the minority firms were black. Some BE 100 firms tasted the gold, including construction firms H.J. Russell and C.D. Moody, part of the team that won the $ 209 million Olympic Stadium project.

Mayor Jackson meeting with the International Olympic Committee. (Black Enterprise Magazine, January 1991)

Illustrating his acumen in business, Jackson in 1987 started Jackson Securities L.L.C. It once was (No. 7 on the BE INVESTMENT BANKS list with $ 1.466 billion in senior/co-senior managed issues). In 1994, Jackson, and his daughter, Brooke Jackson Edmond, and food industry veteran Daniel Halpern, launched Jackmont Hospitality Inc., “He had a passion for being in business with his daughter. It was something he really cared about and enjoyed,” Jackmont President Halpern stated.

Based in Atlanta, Jackmont is a food-service management company and one of the fastest growing TGI Friday’s franchisees. It was No. 19 on the 2018 Top 100s list with $ 200 million in revenue.

In 2003, the same year Jackson died, one of the world’s busiest airports was renamed Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as a tribute to him.

http://www.acrx.org -As millions of Americans strive to deal with the economic downturn,loss of jobs,foreclosures,high cost of gas,and the rising cost of prescription drug cost. Charles Myrick ,the President of American Consultants Rx, announced the re-release of the American Consultants Rx community service project which consist of millions of free discount prescription cards being donated to thousands of not for profits,hospitals,schools,churches,etc. in an effort to assist the uninsured,under insured,and seniors deal with the high cost of prescription drugs.-American Consultants Rx -Pharmacy Discount Network News

BLACK ENTERPRISEcelebrates the 45th anniversary of its roster of the nation’s most successful black businesses—The BE 100s. To commemorate the significance of this collective’s widespread impact on black business and economic development as well as American industry over four decades, we have presented 45 milestone moments. As part of this tribute, we continue our yearlong countdown.

1986: Black Business Leaders Clapback at Racist Statement

After making what many considered derogatory remarks about blacks and other American ethnic groups, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone got a strong rebuttal from some of the nation’s top black business leaders infuriated with the comments.

The controversy came in 1986 when the former prime minister was speaking to his ruling Liberal Democratic Party, reportedly telling them that blacks, Latinos, and, other minorities tug down the educational levels of the United States.

Responding to the Japanese leader’s speech suggesting that the racially homogeneous country was “intellectually” superior to the U.S. because of “black people, Puerto Ricans and Mexicans,” African American business leaders led by BE 100 CEOs including Clarence Avant, Comer Cottrell, George Johnson, Byron Lewis, and Earl G. Graves, pressed for an apology and reciprocal trade in a full-page ad in The New York Times.

Nakasone apologized for his remarks a week after making them. “Let me make one thing very clear,” Nakasone said in the apology. “I have always firmly believed that America’s greatness derives from the dynamism and achievements of her many ethnic communities. It was not my intent whatsoever to imply any racial discrimination nor to criticize any aspect of American society.”

Still, Nakasone never recanted his statements, attracting strong negative reactions from African Americans across the country and members of Congress. At the same time, the then Reagan administration did not offer an immediate reaction, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Rep. Esteban Torres (D-Calif.), chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, urged Nakasone to retract the statement. The Congressional Black Caucus sent a telegram to the Japanese Embassy in Washington asking for an urgent clarification of the remarks.
Prominent black leaders, including Earl G. Graves, founder and publisher of Black Enterprise; Clarence Page, a member of the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board; and, civil rights leader, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, were among those who denounced Nakasone’s statements.

Some Japanese-Americans joined black, Hispanic, and other leaders in demanding an apology from Nakasone. During a meeting at the time with the Japanese Ambassador, Nobuo Matsunaga, the leaders, spearheaded by Jackson, called Nakasone’s remarks an ”insult” to all Americans, but especially the mentioned groups, and demanded an immediate apology.

”Whether the meaning of the words had to do with intelligence or literacy, it was an insult,” Jackson said in a letter delivered to Ambassador Matsunaga. ”We in this country have spent too much time fighting stereotypes, including those against Asian-Americans, to tolerate the perpetuation of stereotypes from Asians against our own people.”

http://www.acrx.org -As millions of Americans strive to deal with the economic downturn,loss of jobs,foreclosures,high cost of gas,and the rising cost of prescription drug cost. Charles Myrick ,the President of American Consultants Rx, announced the re-release of the American Consultants Rx community service project which consist of millions of free discount prescription cards being donated to thousands of not for profits,hospitals,schools,churches,etc. in an effort to assist the uninsured,under insured,and seniors deal with the high cost of prescription drugs.-American Consultants Rx -Pharmacy Discount Network News

In 2008, the only superhero movies we knew were schlocky, uneven fairs like the X-Men and Spider-Man franchises and the gritty, clouded worlds of Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies. Then Iron Man hit theaters. The first entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe hit theaters in a big way, not just because of its tribute to comics as a medium, but because of how it brought levity and comedy back to the genre. It was a revelation in its time and only set up a precedent for movies to come.

Since Iron Man, the MCU has become more confident in its comedy and has only gotten funnier. With over 20 films in the universe so far, there have been hundreds of hilarious moments, so it’s impossible to count them all.

We gave it a shot though. Here are FANDOM’s picks for the 10 funniest MCU moments.

“Nothing goes over my head”

Guardians of the Galaxy

Nobody was sure how most aspects of Guardians of the Galaxy were going to land, but one of the most intriguing was to see how WWE wrestler Dave Bautista would portray Drax the Destroyer. The character was ill-defined in the comics and Bautista had never acted on the big screen, so we definitely had some questions. When the movie introduced the idea that Drax’s people took everything literally, it was a shining moment of brilliance and Bautista was able to run with it. His now-famous rebuttal, “Nothing goes over my head. My reflexes are too fast. I’d catch it,” cemented Drax as the comedic surprise of Guardians, but also cemented Bautista as an actor to watch.

When Hulk crushed Loki

The Avengers

Loki’s going to appear a lot on this list, partially because it feels cathartic to watch the villain become the butt of the joke. After fighting Loki for the bulk of The Avengers, he finally gets what’s coming to him in an epic Hulk smackdown. He can gloat all he wants and taut about his power, but when it comes to the Hulk, he’s nothing but a “puny God.”

Shawarma

The Avengers

The MCU has, arguably, two influential post-credits scenes. One is of course at the end of Iron Man with the introduction of the Avengers Initiative. The second is at the end of Avengers. The team has defeated Loki and their own egos to save the world. So they get together to relax in a shawarma restaurant and just sit in absolute silence. It’s awkward and uncomfortable. They’re exhausted after the harrowing battle, so it makes sense that as the scene goes on, it gets even more awkward and uncomfortable. It’s still an unexpectedly hilarious bit that began the MCU’s trend of innocuous and comedic post-credit scenes.

Trying to pick up Mjolnir

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Avengers: Age of Ultron isn’t as solid a flick as a lot of its MCU counterparts, but it does include one of the franchise’s funniest scenes and, eventually, punchlines. The first act of Ultron contains a lot of levity, including the post-party drinking session, which sees our heroes try to lift Thor’s hammer. It’s a great way to see how close everybody is to “worthy” and Thor’s reactions to Cap jiggling the hilt just a bit. However, the payoff comes in the third act, when Vision picks it up without any effort. Thor’s silence is almost worth the price of admission.

Captain America’s “patience” speech

Spider-Man: Homecoming

Spider-Man: Homecoming is filled with hilarious moments, but its most memorable comes following the credits. Thanks in part to the “Shawarma” sequence in Avengers, after-credits scenes became irreverent and almost pointless, but in the best way, and Homecoming might have the most “disappointing” one. Throughout Homecoming, Captain America appeared in cheesy PSAs aimed at high school students. In this one, he addresses the movie-going audience personally, telling them that patience is an important virtue, even though “sometimes it leads to very little.”

“He knows how much I like snakes”

Thor: Ragnarok

This exchange is probably the ultimate example of director Taika Waititi’s unique brand of dry, subverting humor and in a sense, it sums up the movie. Like any siblings, Thor and Loki squabble. A lot of that fighting leads to possible world-ending consequences, but sometimes it just ends in adorable mischief. During Thor: Ragnarok, as the Revengers (title pending) discuss whether to accept Loki into their group, Thor recounts a tale from their childhood when Loki, knowing how much Thor loved snakes, transformed himself into one and stabbed him. Hemsworth’s animated whispering as both Bruce Banner and Valkyrie look on in befuddlement, followed by Loki’s slight chuckle, make this not only a defining moment for the two Asgardians, but one of the most quietly funny moments throughout the entire MCU.

When Bruce Banner jumps from the ship on Asgard

Thor: Ragnarok

Yes, it’s another moment from Thor: Ragnarok, but we can’t help if it’s one of the funniest movies in the MCU. In this one, Thor is fighting Hela’s minions in Asgard. Bruce knows that the Hulk would be a huge help so he gets ready to jump from the ship hovering over the Bifrost. He pumps up the moment to Valkyrie, who by this time hasn’t made the connection between the scrawny guy in a blazer and her big green friend. The audience is also ready for the transformation as Bruce jumps — only to slam onto the ground and crumple into a heap of broken bones and groaning. It’s the Hulk’s best entrance since “I’m always angry.”

“I’ve been falling for 30 minutes”

Thor: Ragnarok

Last Ragnarok moment, I swear! Thor is on the hunt for his father and he has the answers he’s looking for after talking to Doctor Strange, but he needs to get his brother back first. Strange releases Loki from portal hell, but his reaction to falling for so long is unexpected. Waititi revels in subverting audience expectations with childish reactions or mundane reactions and Loki’s recounting of the time is a bit of both.

“What are those?!”

Black Panther

We weren’t sure what to expect when we set foot in Wakanda for the first time, but just because it’s isolated doesn’t mean it can’t be modern. Shuri immediately stole our hearts in Black Panther, not just because of her confidence, intelligence, and loyalty to her family, but her ability to take a years-old meme and make it funny again.

“It is truth serum!”

Ant-Man and the Wasp

The Marvel films have plenty of supporting characters that are able to stand out despite not getting into a pair of tights, but Luis manages to beat him all. The former cellmate and current business partner of Scott Lang has a lot to say, which sometimes leads to him going off on montage-filled tangents when attempting to tell simple stories. Those tales stole the show in the first Ant-Man but Ant-Man and the Wasp takes it to a whole new level when Luis is given “not truth serum,” leading to his best rant to date. It’s filled with wigs, flashbacks, cutaways, amazing lip-syncing, and the quickest fast-talking that Michael Peña could probably muster for what might be the perfect Luis story.

CD Projekt Red is breaking down the “Cyberpunk 2077” E3 2018 trailer frame by frame in a bid to help players decode some of the clues hidden within. In the developer’s new online series, which receives a new entry every couple of days on the official “Cyberpunk 2077” website, there’s a frame from the trailer […]

It doesn’t take a lot of dot-connecting genius to figure why music was a crucial component of “Portlandia,” which recently wrapped its eighth and final season. The host city is a rock town, but more than that, Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein came of age in the punk scene, although that was her initial claim […]

The 2018 MTV Movie and TV Awards made one thing perfectly clear: Tiffany Haddish should host every awards show for the remainder of 2018. Haddish had the audience rolling whenever stars of shows like Riverdale,Grown-ish, and 13 ReasonsWhy, even Lady Gaga herself, handed out Golden Popcorn prizes in gender-neutral categories like “Most Frightened Performance” and “Best Kiss.” While Stranger Things and Black Panther were nominated in the most categories, it’s clear that Haddish was the night’s biggest winner.

Here are the best, worst and wildest moments at the MTV Movie and TV Awards:

The Best Ten Minutes in Awards Show History

Thanks to the magic of CGI, Haddish was inserted into Black Panther as if the cast of Girls Trip skipped New Orleans and went to Wakanda instead. There she recreated TLC’s “Waterfalls” video, threw down with T’Challa, yelled things like, “I am Tiffany Haddish and I know who bit Beyoncé!” and “You are so close to getting my face pregnant!” After winning the fight, she drank some purple drink that turned her into a unicorn who was ”horny as hell.” She then appeared on stage to perform a movie-themed version of Cardi B‘s “Bodak Yellow”. She was even dressed as Cardi B, pregnant thanks to Michael B. Jordan staring into her eyes. But Haddish didn’t stop there: She then reminded the crowd that she is the first black woman to host the award show, that Black Panther is the first African-American movie to make a billion dollars, and “A Quiet Place is the first film to scare black people outta talking in movie theaters.” She then set about making everyone from Riverdale, Stranger Things and Zendaya squirm—while cracking up the entire audience. Haddish then excused herself, because “usually when a black girl talks this much on MTV she just got Catfish-ed.“

Best Kardashian Recap

“That family is basically the Star Wars franchise,” Haddish joked. “They make a ton of money, a new one is always popping up and they’re ruled by a bossy overlord who sleeps in a mask and loves black men.” The jab earned laughs from Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian West.

Shortest (a.k.a. Best) Speech

Madelaine Petsch from Riverdale took the prize for Best Scene Stealer, who speech was nothing more than a heartfelt thank you. Perfect!

Best Dressed

Haddish once again wore the now-iconic white Alexander McQueen dress she wore to the Girls Trip premiere and when she hosted Saturday Night Liveand at the 2018 Academy Awards.

Cutest Public Flirting

While Haddish shamelessly flirted with Michael B. Jordan, it was Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp who pulled it off best. When he took the stage after winning the prize for Most Frightened Performance for his role as Will, he couldn’t help but sweetly and shyly say, “Hi Zendaya.”

Best Hero

While Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman was grateful to win the award for ”Best Hero”, he wanted to acknowledge the real heroes in the world. Specifically, he wanted to highlight the heroism of James Shaw, Jr., who fought off a gunman at a Waffle House in Tennessee and then raised a lot of money for victims. Boseman handed him the trophy and told him it was going to live at his house.

Best Star Wars Reboot

Tiffany Haddish inserted herself into Star Wars: The Last Jedi and when Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren appears to her through their special bond, the Force can’t tear them apart. “A man in high-waisted pants is my biggest weakness!” she said. When he showed up a minute later in high-waisted pants, she had no choice but to take off her shirt just “to make him feel comfortable.” It was all uphill from there.

Best Description of 13 Reasons Why

Haddish explained that she started watching the show because she “thought it was the sequel to 12 Years A Slave.“

Most Inspirational Speech

When Keiynan Lonsdale won the coveted “Best Kiss” award for his lip-locking work in Love, Simon hit the stage, he urged kids to live their dreams. “I just want to say to every kid, if you can live your dreams and wear dresses, you can live your dreams — you can live your dreams and kiss the one that you love no matter what gender they are.”

Best Youth Outreach Program

Kristen Bell and Seth Rogen (who Haddish described as her “favorite bearded white man since Abraham Lincoln”) stepped on stage to promote their new film LikeFather. Bell’s face was plastered in fake tattoos sure to appeal to the kids these days, including avocado toast , a bottle of rosé, and the logo for Wild Wild Country. Not to be outdone, Rogen got Vin Diesel’s face on his lower back.

Best Villain

Michael B. Jordan was shocked that he won Best Villain for his performance in Black Panther. while that sounds like the typical faux humility of a winner, Jordan was truly surprised: “I thought Roseanne had that in the bag!”

Parental Advisory

Haddish had a few concerns about Stranger Things. “Everyone thinks they are so cute, but hear me out: they ride bikes in a group, Eleven beats a**es and they always dropping bodies. Where I come from that’s a straight up gang.”

Best Public Service Announcement

While he had the spotlight, Jordan had a small request for the audience: “Chadwick Boseman asked me to ask you to stop asking him to say ‘Wakanda Forever!’”

Next Year’s Winner

A Dark-Ass Place, which is like A Quiet Place, but the monsters are deaf so you can make as much noise as you want if you keep the lights off. It stars Elizabeth Moss, Jamie Foxx, Dave Chappelle, and, of course, Tiffany Haddish, who dreamed up the whole thing when she couldn‘t stop talking during A Quiet Place.

Remembering Your Roots

Lena Waithe was awarded the Trailblazer prize, and dedicated her win to some other trailblazers — the stars of the documentary Paris is Burning. Jennie Livingston’s 1990 film documents New York’s underground drag scene that is wildly influential in today’s culture, even though many people don’t know where things like vogue-ing and the phrase “Yas Queen!” came from originally. While that may change thanks to the show Pose, as Waithe said, “They strutted through a brickwall so we wouldn’t have to.”

Best Historical Reenactment

Haddish showed up on stage in a stunning reproduction of the gown Meghan Markle war when she married Prince Harry. “Girl’s from my hood,” Haddish said by way of explanation.

Most Wide-Ranging Speech

Chris Pratt gave a speech that laid out nine rules that ranged from how to give a dog medicine (in hamburger meat), a reminder to not take anything for granted, tips on how to poop at a party, and a reminder to pray.

Best IRL Message

Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown recently left Twitter over cyberbullying, used her Best Performance acceptance speech to deliver a powerful message. “There should be no space in this world for bullying,” she said. “I’m not going to tolerate it, and neither should any of you.”

Best Double Duty

Tiffany Haddish not only hosted the show, but also won for Best Comedic Performance. She came on stage in her bathrobe, exclaiming “She ready!”

MTV award shows are known for contributing some of the most shocking water cooler moments in television history, and the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards were no exception. Tiffany Haddish set the tone for the show as the night’s host, opening with a parody of Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow,” during which she swapped the […]

While in attendance at the MTV Movie and TV Awards, the actor opened up about his family time, revealing what is the best kind of moments he spends with his son Jack, 5. Here’s what he had to say!

‘I think my love language is quality time, so when we can just sit down and just be together and spend time with one another, just me and him. That is probably when I am the happiest and when he looks up to me the most,’ Chris Pratt told ET.

As fans know already, Pratt attended the show in order to receive the Generation Award for his contributions to both TV and film through his Parks and Recreation, Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, Jurassic World, as well as the newest, Avengers: Infinity War roles.

The star also shared the plans he had for Father’s Day, and it is safe to say it was not as exciting or epic as surviving dinosaurs or traveling the universe to find an Infinity Stone.

However, it is his favorite thing to do with his young son, so that’s great!

‘Church and I am going to lay low and swim in the pool. That is what we are going to do,’ Pratt dished.

We are sure he enjoyed all that leisure time with little Jack.

The proud father seems to really love being a parent and days like these when he can just relax with the boy and make precious memories together are probably pretty rare considering he has a pretty packed schedule.

Make sure to tune in for the MTV Movie and TV Awards that is set to air tomorrow, June 18, on MTV, at 9 P.M.ET/PT!

Grey’s Anatomyseason finales are always emotional roller coasters. Whether the doctors of Grey Sloan Memorial are dealing with plane crashes, active shooters, or the death of a beloved patient (RIP Denny) there is always some big twist that leaves fans clamoring for the next season. This year’s finale was no different, but it also had added importance because it marked the final episode of Dr. April Kepner and Dr. Arizona Robbins.

The finale also (finally) featured the wedding of Alex and Jo. But this is Grey’s Anatomy and a wedding can never go off without a hitch. The couple almost missing their own wedding wasn’t even the craziest part of the episode. Here we take a look at the most shocking moments from “All of Me”.

April’s New Mission

After surviving her near death experience in last week’s episode, fans were wondering just how April would leave the show. It comes as shock that April has merely chosen to leave her job as a trauma surgeon. Instead of saving lives in a hospital, she is now providing medical care for the homeless. It’s the perfect sendoff for her character. April has been defined by her faith and desire to do good in the world. While it would have been incredibly emotional to see her die, it’s a wonderful surprise that Grey’s has allowed April to survive and go out with such an amazing legacy. It was also great getting to see her jump into action and save a life in the field (with a pinwheel!) one last time.

Miranda Decides to De-Stress

After her heart attack this season, Bailey has had a new outlook on life. Despite Webber‘s praise of her as a leader, she decides it’s time to take a break from her duties as Chief and focus on her research and surgeries. She is finally taking some much needed time for herself and putting her own health first. However, her decision to hire Teddy to take over for her in the interim is sure to ruffle some feathers.

Double Wedding

April planned the perfect wedding for Jo and Alex, but thanks to an emergency surgery, the couple getting trapped in a barn, and a mix up in directions to the location, plans had to be changed. However, all her work was not in vain. Despite being left at the alter by April once before, Matthew decides he wants to try again. The couple got married right then and there, which gave April her happy ending and a new shot at love.

At the same time Jo and Alex have their own perfect wedding. The couple was married in a ceremony performed by Meredith on the all important ferry. It was an emotional moment, further cementing Meredith’s bond with Alex that has extended to now include Jo. Cue the tears.

A Happy Ending For #Calzona?

April might not be the the only one getting her happy ending. Arizona may have to leave her friends and the career she loves to move to New York, but she may have someone waiting for her once she arrives. Callie is single now and the two have been trading texts that make Arizona smile. Callie seems to share this feeling, sending a message saying she can’t wait to see Arizona. Despite all the hardships and heartbreak the couple has been through, this hint that there could be happiness again is a nice way to celebrate the groundbreaking couple and leave fans with hope for their future.

Teddy is Pregnant?!?

Of course just when Amelia and Owen were settling into their life as a little family and Amelia was getting ready to confess her feelings for him, Teddy returns. And it looks like she may have some BIG news to share. It appears as though Teddy is pregnant. Why else would she come back to Seattle if not to tell Owen about their baby? Owen has always wanted to be a father and is the king of doing the right thing so this is sure to change things drastically. Poor Amelia.

There is already plenty of drama to look forward to when Grey’s Anatomy returns for its 15th (!) season this Fall.

Re-live the magical moments at the Founders’ Cup in real time! The Surf Channel has compiled 30 minutes of raw footage as the athletes tear up the Surf Ranch at the first ever 2018 Founders’ Cup in Lemoore, CA.

Fans have been wowed by Han Solo’s flying feats at the controls of the Millennium Falcon for over 40 years. That’s a lot of smuggling, close calls, and outrunning Imperial starships. It’s important everyone knows that.

With decades worth of adventures, it’s hard to pick favorites. Luckily, you don’t have to — we did that. So, strap in and check out Han Solo’s greatest Millennium Falcon moments.

Successfully navigating an asteroid field

C-3PO may know the odds of getting through a bunch of space rocks without smashing yourself to bits. But Han’s got no time for math because he’s too focused on flying his way out of it.

Escaping the Exogorth

Alright, so in order to escape from inside a giant space slug living in one of those asteroids, Han had to carelessly fly into it in the first place. But the good news is that everyone — and the ship — lived on to care about details like this.

Infiltrating Starkiller Base

People put force fields around their planet-sized superweapons to keep scrappy rebels from blowing them up. But Han built his career and reputation on doing the opposite of what people expect. And all he had to do to sneak onto the First Order’s base in The Force Awakens was come out of hyperspace in the split second before he crashed into it. See? Easy.

Pretending to be garbage

Not all of Han’s greatest piloting feats have his passengers grateful for their safety restraints. He sneakily manages to lose the Imperials in The Empire Strikes Back by hiding out in their trash. It didn’t fool Boba Fett, but it worked well enough.

Shooting down Vader

Not many people can list this among their accomplishments, but at the end of A New Hope, Han saves Luke Skywalker’s “hail mary” trench run by blasting Darth Vader into space. That’s even more impressive than his record-setting go at the Kessel Run.

You may not have to worry about Darth Vader or Boba Fett when at the controls of your own vehicle, FANDOM and NHTSA remind you to “Click It or Ticket” — buckle up when you’re behind the wheel and don’t risk a fine, injury, or death.

Pixar movies are known for making adults ugly cry. Even when the protagonists are clownfish, their struggles inspire huge amounts of audience empathy. The flip side of this is that Pixar movie endings usually result in fans cheering and bumping fists. That’s because knowing the depth of a character’s struggle makes “happily ever after” really mean something. Here are some of Pixar’s best fist-bumping moments, as well as the backstory that makes those triumphs so meaningful.

Carl’s House Lifts Off (Up)

Carl and Ellie’s backstory in Up could be a complete film in its own right. It covers an entire lifetime: friendship, love, fertility struggles, aging, and Ellie’s death. Carl’s grief after Ellie dies is almost physically palpable, and it’s easy to imagine his story ending tragically. This is why the scene where Carl’s house literally sprouts balloons and launches into the air is so triumphant. Carl is not only defying the evil construction company trying to shutter him away, he is also making a decision to keep living when the person he loved the most has died.

Boo Beats Up Randall (Monsters, Inc.)

For much of Monsters, Inc., Boo is adorable but helpless. She doesn’t choose to enter the monsters’ dimension, and she relies on Sulley to protect her. She is also terrified of monsters, which culminates in the scene where she runs away from Sulley.

Understanding Boo’s backstory makes the moment where she beats up Randall even more satisfying. Randall gets his comeuppance while turning all sorts of psychedelic colors, and Boo shows that she has overcome her fears.

“This isn’t flying. It’s falling with style.” (Toy Story)

The scene when Buzz Lightyear and Woody plummet together through the sky brilliantly resolves all of Toy Story’s central conflicts. First, this scene shows Woody and Buzz truly working together instead of competing for Andy’s affections. Second, Buzz’s now-famous quote demonstrates that he has fully accepted his identity as a toy.

For much of Toy Story, Buzz believes he is a real-life space hero (this makes for some pretty funny moments). When he initially realizes that he is a toy, Buzz slides into a deep depression. In many ways, this struggle illustrates what we all experience when we come up against our own limitations. Thus, Buzz’s response to Woody saying, “Buzz, you’re flying!” isn’t just hilarious. It demonstrates that even if we realize that we can’t fly, we can still make the choice to soar.

Nemo and Dory Lead the Tuna Fish to Rescue (Finding Nemo)

The scene in Finding Nemo where Nemo and Dory rescue the tuna never fails to make me hold my breath. This is a moment when Nemo proves he can be a hero; however, it is also a major triumph for Marlin.

Much of Finding Nemo is about Marlin’s journey as the parent of an increasingly independent child. Like other parents, Marlin is faced with the challenge of letting his baby go free into a dangerous world. This is doubly complicated for him because he has already lost his wife and other children. So, while the lives of Nemo, Dory, and the tunas are at stake, Marlin is risking everything he loves, and letting Nemo swim into that net is a huge act of courage.

The Incredibles Fight the Omnidroid (The Incredibles)

When the entire Incredibles family (sans Jack-Jack) fights the Omnidroid, it makes for an incredible action scene. It’s also the culmination of the Incredibles accepting both their identities and their need for each other as a family. One of the core conflicts in the film stems from the fact that “supers” are all supposed to be retired. When the Incredibles fight together, they get to proudly demonstrate their abilities to the entire world.

However, the film has perhaps an even more important conflict. During much of the film, Mr. Incredible feels like he needs to solve his problems alone. This leads him to keep secrets from his family and almost get himself killed. During the Omnidroid fight scene, every family member works together to defeat the bad guy. This not only allows the Incredibles to beat Syndrome, it allows them to conquer their relational demons as well.

Hollywood darlings, fashion powerhouses, and elite socialites convened in New York City Monday night for the annual Met Gala, an exclusive fundraiser to benefit the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. Attendees adorned angelic looks and costumes as according to the theme: “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.” However, by no surprise, a number of black stars took their creativity to the next level, while others refused to be anything less than unapologetically black.

Here are nine of the blackest moments that occurred at the 2018 Met Gala.

When Issa Rae Rocked Cornrows

HBO star Issa Rae sported cornbraids and beads styled by celebrity hairstylist and natural hair expert Felicia Leatherwood. In a post on Instagram, Leatherwood revealed that the style paid tribute to the motherland as well as Rae’s African roots. “I tried blending her heritage of West African with the angelic theme of the Gala. If you look closely at the beads, you will see the continent of Africa,” she wrote.

When Solange Showed Up in a Du-Rag

Solange Knowles accessorized her Iris van Herpen dress and latex thigh-high boots with a du-rag and a headdress made of blonde hair. The “Cranes In The Sky” singer said her look was inspired by various saints and her own interpretation of God.

The Stars of Black Panther Reminded Us That It’s Wakanda Forever, Wherever

Cast members from Marvel’s blockbuster film Black Panther were decked in the majesty of regal kings and queens. Chadwick Boseman, Danai Gurira, Michael B. Jordan, and Letitia Wright looked like royalty!

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When John Boyega and Michael B. Jordan Led a “Met Takeover”

Star Wars actor John Boyega and Black Panther actor Michael B. Jordan shared a moment with several other black Hollywood elites that they proclaimed as the “Met takeover.”

When Riri Slayed

Because only a queen could pull off a look inspired by the Pope: Rihanna wore a papal crown, minidress, and a cape designed by Maison Margiela. The pop superstar also co-hosted the fashion gala alongside Amal Clooney, Donatella Versace, Anna Wintour, and Stephen and Christine Schwarzman.

When Nicki Minaj Threw Shade

Leave it up to black people to sneak in subtle shade and side-eye-worthy remarks. Social media users reacted when Nicki Minaj referenced herself as “the bad guy” during a live interview, while many interpreted her comments as a dig toward Cardi B. and Migos, who Minaj has accused of villainizing her.

From #MeToo to “We Believe You”

This week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation to bar convicted domestic abusers from purchasing firearms. The hope, he said, is that the legislation would help save lives and “sever the undeniable connection between domestic abuse and deadly gun violence.”

And at long last, the U.S. this week also allowed dozens of men, women and children to enter the US and apply for asylum from the caravan of people (mainly from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala) who trekked some 2,000 miles from southern Mexico. The caravan is predominantly made up of women and children fleeing violence. Fuller Project contributing photographer Meghan Dhaliwal, based in Mexico City, has been following the caravan for the New York Times. Check out some of her photos here.

As Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen rages into its third year, women are starving themselves in an attempt to save their children, The Associated Press’s Maggie Michael reported this week. Two months ago, Trump happily touted a $ 670 million deal to sell U.S. weapons to Saudi Arabia, and we learned today that U.S. troops are secretly on the border. This conflict is spiraling down—aid groups had predicted 50,000 children would die by the end of 2017. Already nearly 2 million are out of school due to this tragic conflict.

Women’s voices are needed more than ever in that region. Not far from Yemen, Fuller Project reporter Neha Wadekar travelled to Somalia to tell the story of a 28-year-old female police officer who defends Somalia’s #MeToo women—victims of rape and assault who want justice. Read her reporting in British ELLE. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more Fuller Project reporting from Chiapas, Mexico, the Hebron Hills in the West Bank and Knox County, Ohio.

Other Stories from The Week

On Wednesday, Iowa’s legislature passed a “heartbeat bill” making it illegal for women to get an abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detectable. This normally happens around the six-week mark, when many women do not yet know they are pregnant. If it’s signed into law by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, an outspoken opponent of abortion, most abortions would effectively be banned, except in cases of rape or incest. Less than ten percent of abortions performed by medical professionals in 2016 occurred before a woman’s sixth week of pregnancy. Meanwhile, South Carolina senators met early this morning to pass a bill to ban all abortions, except when a mother’s life is threatened, or in cases of incest or rape. They failed—but only just.

In Ireland, abortion is largely illegal, but that will be challenged in a late May 25th referendum in which voters will decide whether to repeal the constitution’s 8th amendment, which states that a fetus has the same rights as its mother. Such a repeal would allow parliament to draft a law permitting abortions in hospitals up to 12 weeks. Many Irish women now travel to the UK and elsewhere to seek out abortions.

Stormy Daniels continues to be one of Washington’s most powerful women: On Wednesday night, the Trump team accidentally admitted on Fox News that Trump reimbursed $ 130k to his lawyer, Michael Cohen, effectively paying off an adult film star for her silence. The payment could violate campaign finance laws.

Take a moment to read this Ms. Magazine Q&A with Nikole Hannah-Jones, an intrepid reporter with the New York Times covering race relations in America, MacArthur fellow, and co-founder of the Ida B Wells Society, an organization supporting reporters of color in the pursuit of investigative journalism. It’s named after pioneering investigative journalist Ida B.Wells, who battled rampant sexism and racism to report the truth about discrimination and racism.

In Pacific Standard, Elizabeth Weingarten, the director of the Global Gender Parity Initiative at New America, argues that gender is crucial to understanding national security and that it must be taught in international relations classrooms. In the New York Times, Claire Cain Miller writes about how a common interview question about salary history fuels the gender pay gap.

If you’re a woman or non-binary photographer seeking funding for a project, apply by May 15 for a grant up to $ 5,000 from our friends over at Women Photograph.

Today (April 21) marks the second anniversary of the passing of music icon Prince Rogers Nelson. Aside from being an endlessly talented musician, the “Purple Rain” singer was known for his eclectic style and flamboyant presence. He had an extravagant fashion sense that broke the boundaries of gender norms, thanks to his use of makeup, low-cut shirts, […]

If you’re looking for a blast from the past that still holds up today, look no further than the 1998 film Pokémon: The First Movie – Mewtwo Strikes Back. It focuses on Mew’s clone, Mewtwo, who plans to take over the world by creating super clones of Pokémon. Yet when he invites Ash Ketchum and other Pokémon trainers to New Island to battle, they thwart his plans and teach him a valuable lesson. The movie has several powerful messages about acceptance and nonviolence. As more people stand up for what’s right in today’s world, these messages are as relevant as ever. Here are five important moments from the movie that embody these ideals.

The Pokémon Fistfight

Most of the movie’s action takes off after Mewtwo’s super clones are created. In response to Mew’s claim that showing off powers doesn’t prove anything, Mewtwo blocks all the real Pokémon and clones’ powers and sends them into an all-out brawl against each other. He also begins to fight Mew himself. As the Pokémon fight, the song, “Brother, My Brother” by Blessid Union of Souls plays.

The whole song is inspiring and poignant, but two lines, in particular, stand out: “Tell me, what are we fighting for?” and “Our foolish pride makes us hate this way.” These two lines urge the viewer to consider how ridiculous the fighting is. The Pokémon are fighting because they see their differences as something negative. They think they are supposed to oppose each other. Soon, they see the folly of their ways in this fictional world. But this is something we should question in our own world as well. After all, as the song asks, “Isn’t life worth so much more?”

Meowth for Peace

Meowth of Team Rocket also gets his own clone, Meowthtwo. During the fight, they meet and bare claws at each other, only to back down before making a “clawful mistake.” This leads to some insightful dialogue between them, as Meowth asks, “How can I trust you? You were born different.”

They end up staring at the stars above, which brings Meowth to an important realization. He says, “We do have a lot in common. The same Earth, the same air, the same sky! Maybe if we started looking at what’s the same, instead of always looking at what’s different, well, who knows?” If everyone can accept each other’s differences and focus on what we all share, then we can work together to make the world a better place.

Pikachu Takes a Stand

A key moment in the fight is when Pikachu meets his clone, Pikachutwo. Unlike Meowth’s clone encounter, which ended peacefully, Pikachutwo attacks Pikachu. When Pikachutwo reaches the point of exhaustion, he repeatedly slaps Pikachu until he knocks him down. Despite this, Pikachu continues to get back up, but he doesn’t fight back.

Pikachu doesn’t say anything, but he sure does make a statement. While he does hold his ground, he doesn’t retaliate against his clone. He knows that doing so would only perpetuate the hate and fighting, which would only mean more pain for everyone. As Ash says later, “Someone’s got to say no, and refuse to fight, just like Pikachu.” We could all stand to be a little more like Pikachu.

Facing the Consequences

The most heartbreaking moment of the movie comes when Ash himself tries to stop the fight between Mew and Mewtwo. As the two Pokémon fire off their powers at each other, Ash runs between them and gets caught in the middle of their attack, which turns him to stone. Pikachu tries to nudge him awake and even uses a couple of electric shocks on him, but it’s useless. It’s only when all the Pokémon cry together and the tears gather around Ash that he’s miraculously revived.

This scene drives home the message that fighting doesn’t solve anything. Mewtwo and all the Pokémon pushed their fighting to the point of self-destruction and death, hitting an innocent bystander in the process. While Ash survived in the end, the real world isn’t as forgiving. Blind rage not only affects yourself but those you care about as well.

Mewtwo Discovers Life’s Purpose

Mewtwo finally learns his lesson after the Pokémon revive Ash. He takes note of how Ash sacrificed himself for the Pokémon and how they, in turn, set aside their differences to come together to save him. Mewtwo tells Mew that “the circumstances of one’s birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.” He then flies away with the clones and erases everyone else’s memories of the event.

Early in the movie, Mewtwo was spiteful of the fact that he was “created” as a cloning experiment. It’s what drove him to want to take over the world with clones. But, as he finds out, none of that matters. He is free to determine his own purpose in life, and so are we. If we don’t let outside factors limit us, then we can change the world.

It’s been a whole 20 years since the original Starcraft was released. The impact this game has had can’t be understated. Not just in its genre, not just in esports, but even as far as entire nations.

Starcraft pushed forward everything from small design improvements to high-level strategic thinking. It pushed forward business models, online matchmaking, and balancing for high-level play. Later on, it did the impossible — improving on a classic with a sequel.

We thought we’d take a moment to remember some of the most notable Starcraft milestone moments over the years. A few of them are milestones for everyone, and a few of them are our personal favourites.

1998 – ‘Starcraft’ is Released

The original incarnation of Starcraft was a re-skinned Warcraft 2. But after a negative response when showing an early version of the game at E3, Blizzard knew it needed to up its graphical game.

The change was made to isometric, which brought all kinds of new challenges. Limited CGI was implemented in-game, coupled with voice acting, to give the game’s portraits a new feeling of life.

The #SC20 Anniversary Stream is now [🔴 LIVE]!Tune in for special guests, epic matches, and hilarious commentary

Players responded extremely well to Starcraft‘s asymmetrical factions, and Blizzard had to invest heavily into Battle.net to handle the unexpected load.

Having only anticipated a limited launch in other regions, Starcraft becomes a surprise hit in South Korea, and plays a large part in the rise of “PC bang” culture (socialising in LAN cafes).

1998 – Brood War is Released

Just eight months after the release of the base game, Blizzard brings out the Brood War expansion.

Story-wise, this gave us three new campaigns which ultimately resulted in Kerrigan being in control of the Zerg. Gameplay-wise, it gave us new technologies and new units, such as the Lurker and Valkyrie.

It was also around this time that people starting talking about Starcraft as a game balanced down to a science. While it was impossible for Blizzard’s developers and QA testers to anticipate the evolving metagame pioneered by high-level players, after a few patches it had the balance tight even at a pro level.

A true achievement, considering the wildly asymmetrical factions.

2000 – World Cyber Games

Starcraft: Brood War is included in the first iteration of the World Cyber Games, which for many years served as gaming’s equivalent of the olympics.

The first event was hosted in South Korea, with the other games being FIFA 2000, Unreal Tournament, Quake 3 Arena, and Age of Empires 2. Starcraft would outlast all of them.

2000 – Korean Esports Association

Also known as KeSPA, this organisation would play a large part in shaping the competitive Starcraft landscape over the years.

It was destined to have its fair share of controversy, as people became more and more serious about Starcraft. At the height of televised matches and prize money, players would practice long hours in crowded gaming houses for very little money.

KeSPA was seen as not protecting these traditionally young competitors, as it was generally up to the winning members of each team house to buy food for their teammates.

Later on, KeSPA would lose influence as Blizzard sought royalties for KeSPA broadcasting its intellectual property. The talks went poorly, and rights to broadcast Starcraft 2 would go exclusively to GOMTV.

2001 – Rise of the Kings

One of the most famous gamers of all time enters the Starcraft competitive scene. SlayerS_BoxeR, the “Terran Emperor,” became a dominant force at a time when the Terran race was considered unsuitable for pro play. He innovated dropship micromanagement and won the World Cyber Games tournament in both 2001 and 2002.

It gave rise to some amazing moments, including this one which became the first Starcraft meme:

Much later on, in the days of Starcraft 2, a player would call themselves SlayersBoxer out of respect for the original legend. The two would eventually meet in a top ranked, televised match, with the same name.

Over the course of the next decade, other personalities would come onto the competitive scene and shape it in their own way, adding to the list of viable strategies and remixing the various timings that pros would have to be aware of.

Players such as Flash, Jaedong, and JulyZerg would amaze audiences with their strengths, and all have their periods of dominance over the scene.

2010 – ‘Starcraft 2’ is Released

After a decade of Starcraft rivalling Counter-Strike (through its various iterations) as the most popular and enduring esport in the world, Blizzard brought out a sequel.

Pre-release, in March of 2010, Blizzard showed it wasn’t without its own competitive side. As competing RTS games Command & Conquer 4 and Supreme Commander 2 geared up for their releases, Blizzard dropped the open beta for Starcraft 2. It was a move designed to completely steal the thunder of the rival franchises, and it worked — though the other two games had issues of their own.

The potential for disaster in a Starcraft sequel was huge, and a big topic of conversation was how anyone could improve on something so perfect. We needn’t have been worried, because Blizzard was up to the task.

Blizzard’s strategy here was focusing on little improvements to great effect. Aspects like the Terran supply depots folding into the ground were a minor feature, but had enormous implications on competitive matches.

It helped that the game looked great, but what mattered was the asymmetrical factions were just as balanced as they were before, despite all the improvements and changes. It was a classic right out of the gate.

2010 – GOMTV – From Pros to Prose

With GOMTV securing the broadcasting rights to the Global Starcraft 2 League, this was the first example of a highly successful, global subscription model for esports. GOMTV let players broadcast in standard definition for free, but a small fee (around $ 5 per month) would allow high definition streaming and access to video on demand.

It would pave the way for other payment systems like MLG, though arguably none would be as successful, even to this day, as GOMTV.

While this was mainly down to the popularity of Starcraft 2 and how entertaining high level play was to watch, part of this success was down to its broadcast team.

Former professional Starcraft players in the West such as Artosis, Tasteless, Day9, and InControl would become commentators in the days of Starcraft 2. The former two headed up GOMTV’s broadcasts, becoming fan favourites as they filled the lulls with humour and meta analysis, while going appropriately bonkers at the biggest moments.

2011 – MC Vs JulyZerg

A personal favourite moment of ours was this epic match-up between two titans of the Starcraft 2 scene. JulyZerg was the veteran with legendary speed in micromanagement. MC was the upstart with crazy new strategies, and a penchant for theatrics such as looking at his opponent and making the sign of a cut throat.

We zero in on this one because for us, it was the high point of the Global Starcraft League. MC was the first Protoss to win a GSL, and did so on the strength of prepared pocket strategies. In this case, he had saved some just for the final against JulyZerg.

One memorable match in the best of seven involved MC expanding and being scouted by JulyZerg. As soon as JulyZerg’s drone left, MC cancelled his expansion buildings and swung into full unit production. By the time JulyZerg scouted again, it was too late to build an effective defence.

MC became known for his excellent use of probe force fields, splitting up JulyZerg’s roaches to tackle them in smaller numbers. MC often taunted while doing so, such as dancing with zealots or building a nexus inside JulyZerg’s base.

It wasn’t the closest final. MC ended up convincingly beating JulyZerg 4-1. But the matches were close, and the level of theatrics were high as JulyZerg scrambled with his notorious speed of actions and thought, to respond to MC’s cunning strategies. It was the most memorable of Code S grand finals.

2013 – Heart of the Swarm

Blizzard began bringing out expansion packs to Starcraft 2 at an awkward time for RTS games, though there wasn’t much it could do about it. MOBA games such as League of Legends were taking the world by storm, so much so that Tasteless and Artosis could already be seen in the MOBA commentary booths.

Blizzard was already acknowledging this with its own MOBA game, Heroes of the Storm — which awkwardly shared the same ‘HOTS’ acronym as Heart of the Swarm. Blizzard would attempt to get people to use the shorthand Heroes for its MOBA, but HOTS was what stuck.

Heart of the Swarm brought a new, Kerrigan-focused campaign as well as additions to units, technologies, and game modes. It reinvigorated the RTS scene, but the slide towards MOBAs was unstoppable.

2015 – Legacy of the Void

With its final expansion, Blizzard made large pacing and core design changes. It was the perfect opportunity to tackle the problem if Starcraft 2‘s macro mechanics.

A design imperfection since launch, the race-specific economy systems such as Zerg queens spitting on their hive, creep tumours, and upgrading supply depots were arbitrary busywork designed purely to take up player attention. With enough now added to the game to take up player attention anyway, these systems could be discarded.

Legacy of the Void is still chugging along to this day. Starcraft 2 is a tournament favourite, and an example of what esports can be.

While many of its other games dabble in RNG systems and masquerade as esports, Starcraft and Starcraft 2 were completely skill-based and showed what Blizzard can do when it deliberately sets out to create an esport. These games took on lives of their own, and would have been wild, global successes whether Blizzard put up prize money for competitions or not.

It’s been 20 years, and we’ve heard from Blizzard developers that we’ll definitely be visiting the universe of Starcraft again. Something tells me they weren’t just talking about Starcraft characters in Heroes of the Storm — so let’s bring on the next 20 years.

“One down… thirteen to go!” shouts Monét X Change as the remaining queens of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 10 strut into the werk room fresh off of Vanessa Vanjie Mateo’s elimination last week. On the season’s second episode, which aired March 29th, the queens learned choreography and performed in the lip sync extravaganza PharmaRusical, a pill-poppin’ pun-laden musical about pharmaceutical drug commercials (yes, you read that right). But before the queens bust out their Broadway chops, Andy Cohen, yes THAT Andy Cohen (who is visibly a solid 1.5 feet shorter standing next to glamazon RuPaul, btw) stops by for a little hoedown showdown mini-challenge.

The Vixen and Asia emerge as the winners of the country-themed mini challenge, which asked the queens to dress up in farm girl attire and perform entertaining freestyle choreography. As the winners, Vixen and Asia select teams for the musical performance, choreographed by the one and only Alyssa Edwards.

Not only did we get to reunite with the tongue-popping Drag Race legend Miss Edwards, but we got some extra special guest judges, too: Pop star Halsey and author, actress, model, television host, and Sylk in Mariah Carey’s Glitter, Padma Lakshmi.

1. That squirrel friend moment between Ru and Michelle

VH!

She may have been the first queen to go on last week’s premiere, but a name that we certainly NEVER will forget is Vanessa Vanjie Mateo. (“Vanjie…Vanjie…Vanjie…”). The episode begins with the thirteen remaining queens huddled in the werk room after Vanjie’s elimination, giggling over the eliminated queen’s knack for repetition. Eureka points out that even Ru and Michelle were laughing when Vanjie exited the runway — cut to one of the most genuine moments of friendship we’ve ever witnessed on the show between longterm show biz partners Michelle and RuPaul.

“I didn’t get the name — what was it?” Ru sarcastically whispers to Michelle, who then repeats “Vanjie” over and over as Ru struggles to stifle her laughter. Now, Ru’s laugh is ICONIC (it’s literally the transition sound between the show’s scenes), so hearing Mama Ru attempt to mute her laughter was kind of life-giving??? Her eyes literally water as she whispers to Michelle, “You better stop.” It was a genuinely beautiful representation of squirrel fraaandship between Michelle and Ru — like when you were in middle school and tried to make your friends laugh during their presentations in front of the class.

2. Aquacker feud brought to you by The Vixen

VH!

So we’re still of the belief that producers are shaping this feud between lookalikes Aquaria and Miz Cracker into the Season 10 version of Alyssa Edwards, Coco Montrese, and their bitter pageant past. As the girls talk backstage after the Episode 1 elimination, Aquaria tries to downplay her frustration with Miz Cracker’s similar face makeup. The Vixen, however, isn’t having it (GOD LOVE HER) and stirs. that. pot. like. Betty. Crocker.

With a single whiplash-causing neck spin, she turns to Aquaria and calls out her #fakeness, shouting “YOU WERE MAD. BE MAD TO HER FACE.” The Vixen successfully nudges Aquacker (portmanteau for convenience’s sake) to get into an argument, and we are right there with Monét X Change, reveling in Vixen’s ability to find that ~drama.~

We also get a little more insight into their feud. Miz Cracker tells the cameras that she and Aquaria were actually once close friends. Years ago, Aquaria even taught Cracker how to do her makeup in a twin-themed photo shoot starring both of them. Cracker acknowledges, however, that she needs to make sure she does not subconsciously mimic Aquaria’s looks, delivering a SICK BURN in the process:

“I just did a look that I know for a fact she has never done. It’s called being on top.”

3. RuPaul’s Drag Race x Real Housewives

Bravo’s own Andy Cohen dons some Western-themed attire to make a guest appearance and help judge this week’s dance-centric mini-challenge, the “Hay Girl Hay Hoedown.” Seeing Andy and Ru try to line dance with each other was certainly a moment in itself, but did anyone else catch that Real Housewives-style greeting by the queens? They low-key say “Hi Anndddyyyy” with the same cadence as the housewives in the reunion specials.

4. Alyssa Edwards

Alyssa Edwards’s mere existence is a “moment,” and from that first tongue pop on tonight’s episode, we were in for a treat. When she is revealed as the choreographer of PharmaRusical — with that platinum blonde wig, those pageant queen red lips, a shoutout to her Texas dance studio Beyond Belief, and her A Chorus Line-esque leotard-blazer combo — all was right in the world. Not only was it fabulous watching Miss Edwards impart Drag Race wisdom and shine as the dancer/choreographer that she is, but her one liners were gems as usual:

Yes, we love the one liners on Drag Race, but the show’s power also comes from those deep conversations between queens in the werk room, touching on everything from health, to politics, to sexuality, to eating disorders. In this episode, we learn more about Kalorie. The self-described “big girl” tells the queens that she has actually lost a significant amount of weight after experiencing years of horrific, violent bullying. Having grown up in a small New Mexico town, Kalorie says, “I thought I’d be made fun of for being gay, but it was because I was fat.”

She explains that after watching Jujubee sashay down the runway on Drag Race Season 2, she began performing in drag to learn how to embrace her body. Then, it was the persona of Kalorie who taught her that she was beautiful.

6. All the “Drag Race” references in PharmaRusical

While the queens lip synced and danced to drug commercial parodies (like a pill that prevents you from uttering cliché drag phrases like “YAS QUEEN”), they also sang nods to iconic moments of Drag Race past. A few of our fave references? A call out to Latrice Royale’s “Good God girl get a grip,” Phi Phi O’Hara’s, “Why don’t you go back to Party City where you belong,” Lashauwn Beyond’s “This is not RuPaul’s Best Friend Race,” and a pill named after Pearl’s “Flazeda.”

7. The Vixen, Monique Heart, and Dusty Ray Bottoms’s looks for the Best Drag category

Despite their shaky rehearsal, The Vixen’s team won the PharmaRusical challenge, and Vixen won the challenge in its entirety! (She is unstoppable and definitely one to watch — having just won the mini challenge too.) Eureka and Kalorie found themselves lip syncing for their lives to “Best of My Love” by Emotions. It was Kalorie’s second time in the Bottom Two in just two episodes, and unfortunately, it was also Kalorie’s time to sashay away. Still, she left her mark on the show, both as New Mexico’s first Drag Race queen and as a body positive influence. Ru said it herself: “My dear, a Kalorie-free Drag Race just won’t be the same.”

Catch next week’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race on Thursday at 8 p.m. on VH1!

If you were at all concerned that Deadpool 2 wouldn’t live up to the first, the latest trailer should obliterate those fears. Giving us our first good look at the film proper, the trailer hits us with all the trademarks of Ryan Reynolds’ screen creation – humour, action and extreme irreverence. Here are five times we grinned like goons as we watched.

Cable Punching Deadpool a New Navel

“Move or die,” he says. Cut to an attack on Cable by Deadpool, which is swiftly thwarted by Brolin’s big bad with a karate chop move to the face followed by a left hook to the stomach. Oof. It takes just two moves to take Deadpool out, who flies a substantial distance backward on impact.

The Kid

Julian Dennison as ‘The Kid’. Charming.

If you’re not stoked yet to see young Julian Dennison in action, you should be. He’s the talented New Zealand lad from Taika Waititi’s brilliant Hunt For the Wilderpeople, and here he gives us a taste of what he’s going to bring. With a defiant double one-fingered salute.

The X-Force

Zazie Beetz as Domino.

This band of superheroes is about to get its own movie so it’s a buzz to see them debut in Deadpool 2. And assembled by Wade Wilson himself, no less. In this closer look, Terry Crews demonstrates his toughness as one of their number, while Zazie Beetz is the “morally flexible” Domino, striding purposefully through a flaming doorway. Deadpool, deadpanning in typical self-referential fashion, says that he needs them “young enough to carry their own franchise for 10-12 years.”

Don’t Call It A Comeback

X-Force assemble as Deadpool prepares to jump.

LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out” kicks in — with its memorable first line – and gets you all fired up for the film’s action. The song soundtracks Deadpool’s leap out of a plane and subsequent hurtling to the ground, plus a fight with a sword-wielding, sumo-style gang and a moment where he brutally smacks a bad guy in the face… with a brick. “Tell me they got that in slow-motion,” he quips to camera. They did.

The Gun Switch-Around

The old switch-around.

This fast-paced scene sees Deadpool on the bonnet of a moving vehicle. As he punches through the windscreen, the driver points a gun at him. He puts his hand out to stop it and gets a bullet through his hand at point-blank range for his troubles. Unshaken, Deadpool twists the gun around and fires it through his opponent’s head. Spraying brains everywhere.

http://www.acrx.org -As millions of Americans strive to deal with the economic downturn,loss of jobs,foreclosures,high cost of gas,and the rising cost of prescription drug cost. Charles Myrick ,the President of American Consultants Rx, announced the re-release of the American Consultants Rx community service project which consist of millions of free discount prescription cards being donated to thousands of not for profits,hospitals,schools,churches,etc. in an effort to assist the uninsured,under insured,and seniors deal with the high cost of prescription drugs.-American Consultants Rx -Pharmacy Discount Network News

As Prince William and Duchess Kate await the arrival of their third child, Us Weekly takes a look back at the royal family’s sweetest moments with their son, Prince George, and daughter, Princess Charlotte.

Many fans feel that Peter Capaldi had a substantial handicap when playing the Twelfth Doctor. He lacked a serious seasonal plot, Clara became dull without her mystery, and even a soft reboot didn’t help. Missy may have been permanently killed, and the sonic sunglasses didn’t help matters.

However, Capaldi is a great actor. His talent managed to leave more than a few shining moments among the otherwise bland stories written for the Twelfth Doctor, so we’ve picked out his six most defining scenes.

“Robot of Sherwood” – Spoon Fight

Doctor Who has always been a little silly. It has to be. But spoon-fighting with Robin Hood definitely steps further out of normal than most of The Doctor’s other shenanigans.

After attempting to disprove the existence of the Prince of Thieves, The Doctor finds himself in an unlikely bind. Eager to redistribute the wealth of The Doctor’s magical box, the Earl of Loxley challenges him to a duel for the riches. Sticking to his pacifist ideals against weapons, The Doctor instead opts for the more noble path with a fierce battle-cry: “For I am The Doctor and this is my spoon!”

“Deep Breath” – The Half-Faced Man

Throughout his long history, The Doctor has sometimes been forced to make that final choice to save one side by destroying the other. His decisions have obliterated Daleks, Cybermen, and entire planets, always with the ultimate goal of saving lives. That was until the Half-Face Man.

The Doctor and the Half-Face Man struggle for dominance.

Wrestling with the temporally misplaced android, The Doctor is still full of regeneration energy and strong enough of a match. Even if we never see the act and only the outcome, it is heavily suggested that after a tussle with The Doctor in an escape capsule, the Half-Face Man is either pushed or convinced to jump to his death. Having such a direct kill so early in his run marked Capaldi’s Doctor as possibly the darkest incarnation yet and set a dire tone for the rest of the series.

“The Magician’s Apprentice” – Saving Davros

Daleks are the deadliest threat to the universe. They believe all other life an abomination, that only they are worthy to survive. They defeated the Time Lords, conquered galaxies, and almost destroyed creation. Then, one day, The Doctor has a chance to undo it all.

When the temperamental TARDIS suddenly dropped him in the middle of the Kaled-Thal war, the Twelfth Doctor encountered a small child named Davros, the future creator of the Daleks. Abandoning him means the Daleks will never rise and slaughter entire galaxies. It also means the death of a boy who has not yet done anything wrong.

Young Davros surrounded by ‘hand mines’.

This is a choice only the Doctor can make – the choice to save Davros. Showing that empathy, compassion, and mercy are the better qualities, he destroys the ‘hand mines’ and leads Davros back home. Even knowing how many millions he would save with the death of this child, The Doctor holds all lives sacred and could never sacrifice an innocent.

“The Husbands of River Song” – the Final Night With River Song

With their timelines back-to-front, The Doctor and River Song had to be very careful not to disturb one another’s past or futures. But on The Doctor’s first adventure with River and her last with him, she revealed that they had spent a final night on Darillium. By telling him that, it meant he would always know the final time they would meet.

So when it came to pass, The Doctor cheated fate. He arranged for a restaurant to be built and ordered the best view for an entire night. A night that lasted 24 years.

“Listen” – the Creature Under the Bed

Every child knows it: something lurks under the bed. It doesn’t matter if you look, it will just move under the cupboard. Or the chest of drawers. With such a basic fear inherent in thousands of years throughout the galaxy, The Doctor has an unthinkable idea – what if something really is there?

“Listen” is arguably the best episode of Capaldi’s tenure. It broke into a universal childhood fear and supposed the existence of a lifeform that haunts every other race in existence. And when the Doctor is within reach of the answers, it shows us the depth of his character.

Finding a time and place that one such figure appeared, The Doctor is encumbered by the presence of young Danny Pink and companion Clara. With nothing but a blanket separating them, The Doctor gives up his chase to avoid any hostilities. Instead, the Twelfth Doctor lets the creature escape before he can get a good look. It marks a notable turn in his character, from one who would risk all to somebody who knows when to stop.

“The Zygon Inversion” – the Price of War

“Day of the Doctor” saw Eleven rewrite his own history and save Gallifrey. But that meant he still had four hundred years of memories of fighting and every single one of them is reflected when he stops a Zygon rebellion against their human hosts. Because he knew both races well, he set a plan in place from the beginning for this exact scenario.

Each side was given a button and that button would kill the other side. Or, maybe, your own.

Determined that nobody else will suffer from the brutality of war as he did, The Doctor taunts them into realising the brutal horror of their actions by comparing their tiny fight to a simple game. Each button has an equal chance to kill their side as much as the other, a genocidal coin-flip.

The Doctor rarely opens up about his place in the Time War but this is a precious insight into the darkest depths of his history. He recalls doing worse things than either side could ever imagine and imparts the most important lesson of war: to take a tight hold of all the pain suffered and make sure that nobody else ever has to feel that way again.

Love and Hip-Hop Miami’s drama is picking up and we get a sense of that immediately as episode 5 starts. We pick right up where last week left off with Shay and Liz confronting Prince and his “friend” Gabriel at the launch of his fashion line.

Once Shay things calmed down a bit Prince goes to confront Liz and find out why she and her “ratchet ass friend” was there in the first place. He surprised to see that his nemesis Michelle Pooch is there. Prince is still clueless that his ex and his rival are actually best friends in real life while trying to talk to Liz, Pooch comes and remove Liz from the situation.

Liz and her “Ratchet” ass friend??? Why the black girl gotta be the only ratchet one?? Liz was wilding out too #lhhmia#LHHMIAMI

http://www.acrx.org -As millions of Americans strive to deal with the economic downturn,loss of jobs,foreclosures,high cost of gas,and the rising cost of prescription drug cost. Charles Myrick ,the President of American Consultants Rx, announced the re-release of the American Consultants Rx community service project which consist of millions of free discount prescription cards being donated to thousands of not for profits,hospitals,schools,churches,etc. in an effort to assist the uninsured,under insured,and seniors deal with the high cost of prescription drugs.-American Consultants Rx -Pharmacy Discount Network News

It’s Episode 4 of The Bachelor and there are still contestants popping up on the TV whom I’m certain I’ve never seen before in my life. We really need to trim the fat, but first, we’re heading on vacation.

Arie Luyendyk Jr.’s giant personality could only keep the ladies entertained for so long, so this week he shipped his potential brides to exotic Lake Tahoe for some wintery fun in the woods. But they didn’t fly far enough to escape all the drama, so let’s break down the most memorable moments below.

Wilderness Survival Training

Tonight’s group date looked more like an episode of Survivor, as the contestants were forced to eat insects and drink their own urine. Okay, so they ended up not actually having to drink it — jokester Arie was actually drinking apple juice when he took a swig from his pee jug — but does that really make things less weird? Everyone looked relieved that it was a joke, but they still all had to pee into little bottles. And then all pretended like it never happened and moved on to the next activity, which was swallowing worms, naturally. If you can’t fall in love on a date like this, then sorry, but you’ll probably be alone forever.

Krystal’s Breakdown

Producers must have loved Krystal for making their jobs so easy this season, as she effortlessly fulfills her role as the villain every time she opens her mouth. This week, the competition got the best of her, however, as she suddenly realized she’s on a dating reality show forced to share a man with a room full of nearly identical women.

“I know I need to talk to Arie, but yet, I don’t really want to be one of those girls,” she said in a confessional. Krystal, did you forget about Bibiana? (We sure haven’t!) She called you out for being “one of those girls” at the start of the season. But perhaps the breathy blonde just isn’t blessed with self-awareness. She said she was disgusted by how desperate the girls are to get Arie’s attention before interrupting the rose ceremony in order to get Arie’s attention. Ultimately, she got a rose and lives to be hated another day.

Bekah M.’s Age

It was finally time for Bekah M. to let Arie know she is 14 years younger than him and the ladies were certain he wouldn’t be pleased to discover he’s been robbing the cradle. “Do you know how old I am?” the 22-year-old asked with a youthful glimmer in her eye that reminds us that she’s not even old enough to remember 9/11. “I haven’t been wanting to say because I don’t want you to see me through the lens of my age.”

“Oh my god,” he responded in disbelief. Arie expressed doubt about whether or not she’s ready to be in a committed relationship while mentioning that he’s worried he wouldn’t be able to keep up with her. “I feel like I’ve become a little bit more boring,” he said. (Hey, at least he’s self-aware.) Ultimately, though, Bekah’s girlish charms proved too irresistible and Arie gave her a rose.

22 is wayyyy too young for Bekah to get married. At that age, she's got at least 4 or 5 Bachelor in Paradise appearances and a future Winter Games appearance in her before that nonsense. #TheBachelor

This week’s episode of The Bachelor was like watching a car crash, but that’s because Arie Luyendyk Jr. literally had the ladies slam into one another in a demolition derby. Who says romance is dead?

The two hours we spent with “Pillow Lips” Arie and his hopeful female suitors revealed all sorts of things about the contestants, including carnival-themed childhood traumas that left one of the ladies in tears.

With plenty of head-scratching scenes to choose from, let’s break down the five most cringe-worthy moments from Episode 2.

Demolition Derby

Producers likely chose the night’s date due to Arie’s profession as a race car driver, but did they bother to consider the consequences of having the women crash cars into their fellow competitors? It seems like an event where the contestants can get injured isn’t the safest way for them to get to know each other better. But, hey, the things we’ll do for love, right?

Everyone Watching: "Look we're having trouble telling the girls apart. Can you help us out?"Harrison: "How about a demolition derby where all the girls wear helmets?"Everyone: #TheBachelorpic.twitter.com/DSFWxENtJz

Bumper Car Trauma

“This is, like, my worst nightmare,” said Annaliese through tears after admitting that the group date reminded her too much of a horrible experience she had with bumper cars as a child. We immediately assumed that she was somehow horribly injured in an amusement park accident, but she actually just didn’t enjoy the ride. She was traumatized by the fact that everyone kept hitting her with their bumper cars, making her feel so alone. (But a big congrats to Annaliese for both pushing through her fears and for having such an incredible life that riding bumper cars was one of the most traumatic moments she’s ever experienced.)

Producers really came through with that slowed-down “flashback” to kids laughing on bumper cars while eery circus music played in the background, though.

The Coveted “Most Hardcore” Award

Brittany T. disappeared with an undisclosed injury after the derby because apparently being slammed into by a bunch of old cars is indeed dangerous after all. Arie checked in on her the next day and brought a gift to help make her feel better. Naturally, a rose would have been the one thing to actually heal her pain, but surely she was just as thrilled to get a simple piece of paper that declared her the “Most Hardcore” of the group. Brittany graciously accepted the certificate before instantly folding it in half and returning to the rose ceremony to see if she would survive the night.

Watching #TheBachelor and one girl got gifted Louboutins, the other a paper certificate saying she was the “Most Hardcore” driver.

Bibiana Goes Off

The competition quickly got the best of fiery Bibiana, who did not appreciate being unable to get alone time with Arie on the giant group date. She stormed off and threatened that the cameras had better not follow her into the night. She doubled down on her anger the next night when Krystal interrupted her long-awaited one-on-one time with the bachelor, attacking the contestant for her selfish ways. Krystal already had a rose, so it’s hard to blame Bibiana for her outrage. In fact, most viewers seemed to be #TeamBibiana in the series’ newest feud. But after warning Krystal to sleep with one eye open, Arie will have to have a thing for women who deliver subtle death threats in order for the two to have a future together.

Jenny’s Uncomfortable Elimination

When Arie decided not to give Jenny a rose, the 25-year-old didn’t exactly take it well. She refused to give Arie a goodbye hug or look at him as she trudged out of the room, leading to a truly awkward elimination. When our leading man chased after her for some consoling, she let him know that “I’m not sad about you. I’m sad about leaving my new friends.” But we’d venture to guess that not surviving long enough to gain any fame from the show also had something to do with her breakdown.

Plus, she declared that this is the first time she’s ever been dumped. “I literally came into this thinking I would end up with him, but he literally picked a taxidermist over me,” she admitted. “I feel like I embarrassed myself.”

"But … I made friends here," random blonde girl explains to Arie why she's so heartbroken.Oh, honey. I think you missed the point. It's all about the Instagram sponsorships. Not the friends. #TheBachelor

Kelly Clarkson is pretty much the definition of “bubbly.” The latest star to join the coaching staff of NBC’s “The Voice” brought her folksy charm to Pasadena, Calif., on Tuesday to talk up her debut on the show that returns for Season 14 on Feb. 26. Credit Clarkson for accentuating the positive and not taking […]

The 75th annual Golden Globe awards began with host Seth Meyers making light of recent controversies; he then involved celebrity audience members like Jessica Chastain and Amy Poehler to deliver the punchlines to his jokes.

The presentation of the awards then got underway — see a complete list here. Here are some of the highlights of the show:

Viola Davis and Helen Mirren presented the award for supporting actor in a motion picture: Sam Rockwell in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing,…

The 2018 Golden Globes were held on Sunday, celebrating the best in film and television. The annual fete was hosted by late night host Seth Meyers.

Powerful acceptance speeches punctuated the evening, highlighted by a call to action by Cecil B. DeMille Award winner Oprah Winfrey. But the night elevating women took an ironic turn when Tonya Harding — a woman conspired in a physical attack on another woman — was celebrated.

Without further ado, here are five shocking moments from the 2018 Golden Globes.

Red Carpet Blackout

Both female and male attendees wore black on the red carpet at the Beverly Hilton in support of the #metoo movement, bringing awareness to sexual harassment affecting women in all industries, not just entertainment.

Others wore pins supporting Times Up, an initiative started by 300 prominent women in Hollywood calling for equality. Will & Grace star Debra Messing created buzz when she criticized pay inequality between genders — calling out E! for not paying host Catt Sadler the same as her male counterpart — while being interviewed by E!

Watch the exchange below:

“I was so shocked to hear that E! doesn’t believe in paying their female co-hosts the same as their male co-hosts,” the nominee told host Giuliana Rancic. “I miss Catt Sadler … we stand with her.”

Meyers’ Monologue

Seth Meyers had the difficult task of addressing Hollywood’s sexual harassment headlines and the polarizing political climate (he didn’t mention President Trump by name at all).

His targets were disgraced figures Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, the president, and even himself. (“I’m not even the most powerful Seth in the room,” he quipped.)

Powerful Speeches

As winner after winner took the stage, there was a common theme in their acceptance speeches — ushering change. Here are a few select quotes:

“This character that I played represents something that is the center of our conversation right now: abuse. I do believe and I hope that we can elicit change through the stories we tell and the way we tell them.” — Nicole Kidman

“We no longer live in the blank white spaces at the edge of print. We no longer live in the gaps between the stories. We are the story in print, and we are writing the story ourselves.” — Elisabeth Moss (inspired by author Margaret Atwood)

“Many of us were taught not to tattle. May we teach our children that speaking out without fear of retribution is our culture’s new north star.” — Laura Dern

“For too long women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men. But their time is up. Their time is up!” — Oprah Winfrey

“People out there who are feeling silenced … time is up. We see you. We hear you. And we will tell your stories.” — Reese Witherspoon

“Trust me, the women in the room tonight are not here for the food. We are here for the work.” – Frances McDormand

There’s Tonya

In one of the most surreal moments of the evening, Tonya Harding finally had a moment in the spotlight. The figure skater — who has a lifetime ban from the sport for the 1994 attack on her competitor, Nancy Kerrigan, was called out during Allison Janney’s acceptance speech for I, Tonya. Ironically, the U.S. Figure Skating Championships — the very event where the attack took place — were held this week. The championships serve as a qualifying event for the Olympics, also on NBC.

Tonya Harding always deserved better. And when Nancy Kerrigan attacked and berated a then 14 year old Oksana Baiul after she won her gold medal, it showed you exactly why no one liked her and why she got popped in the knee in the first place. Leave Tonya Harding alone. 2018.

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http://www.acrx.org -As millions of Americans strive to deal with the economic downturn,loss of jobs,foreclosures,high cost of gas,and the rising cost of prescription drug cost. Charles Myrick ,the President of American Consultants Rx, announced the re-release of the American Consultants Rx community service project which consist of millions of free discount prescription cards being donated to thousands of not for profits,hospitals,schools,churches,etc. in an effort to assist the uninsured,under insured,and seniors deal with the high cost of prescription drugs.-American Consultants Rx -Pharmacy Discount Network News

Our final stick taps of the year go to the fledgling Vegas Golden Knights for helping their city heal after unfathomable tragedy, the U.S. women’s national team for its brave stand and Brian Boyle for his triumphant return from leukemia treatment.www.espn.com – NHL

Twenty years after Titanic’s release, we still haven’t let go. Since the film hit theaters on December 19, 1997, several iconic scenes have continued to be quoted, reenacted and referenced for two decades. From the uplifting moment where Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jack declares that he’s “the king of the world,” to the heartbreaking scene in which Kate Winslet’s Rose is forced to release Jack’s hand and watch him pass away in the ocean, Us Weekly rounded up the movie’s most memorable moments. Watch the video above to see them all.

Even the film’s stars still theorize about the flick’s biggest moments. At a November 9 event, Winslet and Kathy Bates joked about Jack’s death. “In one of Cinema’s most tragic love scenes Jack insists that Rose must survive, her heart will go on,” Bates, 69, said while introducing Winslet at the SAG AFTRA Foundation 2nd Annual Patron of the Artists Awards. “He lets go of her hand and sinks into the depth of the Atlantic. And I personally think that there was plenty of room on there!”

Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic.20th Century Fox

Winslet then took the stage, admitting there probably was room for both characters to survive. “I completely agree with you on that door,” she said to Bates. “He could have fit on it! He could have fit on that door!”

Winslet, who received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for the film in 1998, has previously revealed that she and DiCaprio still trade dialogue from the movie. “We’re very, very close and sometimes we do quote the odd Titanic line back and forth to each other,” Winslet explained in Glamour’s October issue. “Because only we can, and we find it really funny.”

It’s impossible not to smile at the sight of someone wearing an ugly Christmas sweater, with or without irony. The over-the-top designs, funny frills and details, and shameless exhibition of holiday spirit all serve up some welcome joy whenever they’re spotted. The same goes for when celebrities wear ugly Christmas sweaters. The exuberant nod to the holiday season is sometimes even funnier when attached to a familiar face we’re used to seeing in more fashionable ensembles. So given that now is the season of the quintessential holiday sweater, we bring to you our countdown of the top five celeb Christmas sweater moments over the years. Some examples are sort of chic, others laughter-inducing, and others completely unexpected. Keep scrolling to see who made the cut (and just try not to smile, we dare you).

There’s no doubt Anna Kendrick has a terrific sense of humor. Even in a decadent fox-adorned getup, she makes this midi dress simultaneously hilarious and chic.Leave it to Lauren Conrad to add a pared-back take on the ugly Christmas sweater.Complete with a fireplace and wreath, Miley Cyrus’s ugly Christmas sweater was classically over-the-top.To celebrate her 2015 film, A Very Murray Christmas, Sofia Coppola donned a fitting holiday sweater.Even Kanye West gets in on the ugly Christmas sweater game, donning a striking argyle look.

How do you feel about ugly Christmas sweaters? Spill your thoughts in the comments.

This story was originally published on December 12, 2015, and has since been updated by Dacy Knight.

Just moments before speaking at the FBI national training academy, President Trump continued to bash the bureau. “When you look at what’s going on with the FBI and the Justice Department, people are very, very angry,” the president said as he departed the White House for the academy at Quantico, Virginia. His comment came in response to a question on whether he’d consider pardoning former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was nabbed as part of the FBI’s probe into Russian election meddling. Minutes later, at the academy, Trump avoided going off-script during his remarks, instead heaping praise upon law-enforcement officials without mentioning a single one of his many gripes with the bureau.

If there’s one thing worse than one single person at the holiday party it’s two single people. You don’t mind when you have nobody to talk to—you can hover over the buffet—but you feel obligated to talk to the other single person.MadameNoire

When it comes to classically feminine style, Taylor Swift is something of a modern muse. While the songstress plays around with trends like boho and touches of edge, ladylike is the aesthetic she stays most true to. So it’s no wonder that—even when she takes small breaks from the spotlight—her influence is enduring.

Whether she’s performing, going to events, or just running errands, Taylor serves up polished style in spades. Plus her penchant for mixing high and low pieces means that nearly copying her exact looks is not such a stretch.

Take a look at some of our favorite Taylor Swift outfits worth copying, and keep scrolling for some key pieces you can shop out right now.

This year, BLACK ENTERPRISE celebrates the 45th anniversary of its roster of the nation’s largest black-owned businesses—The BE 100s. To commemorate the significance of this collective’s widespread impact on black business and economic development as well as American industry over four decades, we have presented 45 milestones moments. As part of this tribute, we continue our yearlong countdown.

Today we reveal No. 23 in the web series “Great Moments in Black Business.”

2003: Billionaire Bob Johnson makes another slam dunk in black business history by breaking the ownership barrier in professional sports through the acquisition of the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats.

Recognized as America’s first black billionaire, business mogul Robert L. Johnson is accomplished at being involved with and closing big deals.

(Robert L. Johnson. Image: File)

Johnson showed his proficiency as a serial entrepreneur when he paid $ 300 million in 2003 to acquire the National Basketball Association’s Charlotte Bobcats expansion team. The transaction was huge as it made Johnson the first black majority owner of a major professional sports team.

Johnson’s deal shattered ownership barriers when it came to a black businessman operating in that realm, though at the time, the NBA had a player base that was roughly 80% black.

The acquisition came two years after Johnson, the founder and chairman of Black Entertainment Television (BET), sold that company to Viacom for roughly $ 3 billion. As such, Johnson became a billionaire and household name.

Key Player in Proposed Airlines Merger

The audacious entrepreneur has always been focused on engaging in commercial enterprises in sectors which had an absence of African American ownership. For example, while in the process of selling BET, he also sought to launch DC Air as a major black-owned airline operating from Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington. Johnson, a US Airways board member at the time, hammered out a deal to acquire assets in the Washington market for $ 141 million as part of United Airlines then-parent UAL Corp. ‘s $ 4.3 billion bid for US Airways in 2000. The deal was grounded when the Department of Justice blocked the merger in 2001.

After he closed the BET deal, Johnson vigorously went after becoming a majority owner of a sports franchise but never succeeded. Johnson failed twice to buy the Charlotte Hornets from team owner George Shinn. After the Hornets relocated to New Orleans, the NBA opened itself to the possibility of adding an expansion team in Charlotte for the 2004-2005 season. In January 2003, the NBA Board of Governors granted Johnson the Charlotte franchise. He also gained ownership of the WNBA’s Charlotte Sting.

(Image: Black Enterprise Magazine, March 2003)

Johnson believes it was his business savvy and financial status that won the deal—he connected with NBA owners who were members of the selection team as well as had influencers such as then-AOL Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons and former President Bill Clinton go to bat for him. He also says that being African American was the fast break on his slam dunk: “The fact that I am African American was a plus, but at the end of the day, if I didn’t have the credibility or experience, there’s no way they would have said, ‘We’ll give it to you just because we want a black guy running an NBA team.”

(Image: Black Enterprise Magazine, March 2003)

Yet Johnson’s tenure as the NBA team’s owner was tarnished by forces like poor attendance and slow sponsorship sales, contributing to the loss of tens of millions of dollars and unprofitability. In 2009, Johnson began seeking a buyer.

Deal With Jordan

He eventually sold the franchise in 2010 to NBA legend Michael Jordan, who had been a minority investor and head of basketball operations since 2006, for $ 275 million. The Hall of Famer and six-time NBA champion became the second African American and first NBA player to own a franchise. At the time of the sale, Bobcats Basketball Holdings L.L.C., which Johnson founded, was ranked No. 40 on the 2009 BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE COMPANIES list. “I am confident that Michael’s leadership will bring success to the Bobcats whether it’s measured by on-the-court performance, success as a business, or making a positive impact in the Charlotte community,” Johnson said.

After operating under the Bobcats moniker for a decade, the franchise was named the Charlotte Hornets when it became available again after New Orleans owner Tom Benson changed his team’s name to the Pelicans.

Johnson continues to build his legacy as one of America’s most dynamic businessman and wealth builder. He currently serves as chairman of The RLJ Cos., a portfolio of holdings in assorted industries, including the RLJ McLarty Landers Holdings L.L.C., the highest-earning black-owned auto company with revenues of $ 1.6 billion and ranked No. 1 on the 2017 BE Auto 50 list and RLJ Equity Partners L.L.C. (No. 10 on the BE PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS list with $ 334 million in capital under management). He was No. 2 on BLACK ENTERPRISE‘s list of “Titans: The 40 Most Powerful African Americans in Business” in the magazine’s 40th-anniversary issue and the recipient of the A.G. Gaston Lifetime Achievement Award, the media company’s highest honor, in 2013.

Melissa Willets

posted in Life

It was a frantic Tuesday night. I’d just fought traffic for two hours to get to New York City for a screening of Coco, the new Disney Pixar film I’d been invited to attend, lucky me, on behalf of BabyCenter. The kids were whining and exhausted after a full day at school, and I was feeling frazzled.

I wrangled small, resistant bodies into coats and hats to fend off the freezing wind chill on the city streets. We made it to the theater (we had to run!), took our seats, and took a deep breath. We were in for a treat of a film. Coco both entertained, and managed to snuggle deep inside our hearts with its touching story and messages. Bottom line: This movie was totally worth the effort it took to get to the theater, and I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.

In case you haven’t yet seen a preview for the movie, here’s a little bit about Coco’s premise. Basically, the story centers around the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.

The main character is a little boy named Miguel, who dreams of becoming a famous musician like his great-great grandfather, Ernesto de la Cruz (who is voiced by Benjamin Bratt). The problem is that his family doesn’t approve, vehemently.

Through a series of magical events, Miguel is soon thrust into the world of the dead, where he meets his family members who have passed on.

His journey takes unexpected twists and turns, but ultimately, Miguel will learn some disturbing family secrets, and be forced to make a choice between his dream to become a musician, and the people he loves most.

You’ll have to watch Coco, when it comes out in theaters on November 22, to find out how Miguel’s destiny unfolds.

But here are a few hints about what happens in this colorful, musically-enchanting movie. First, a goofy, troublemaking character named Héctor (voice of Gael García Bernal), may not be who we think he is at first.

Second, parents should beware that there are a few scary sequences that made my kids cover their eyes, especially those featuring a spirit animal who starts off on the wrong foot with Miguel.

Finally, be prepared to tear up during some scenes when Miguel learns about secret connections among his family members, and how much love truly matters. A song called “Remember Me,” which was written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez of Frozen fame, is sure to make you think about your loved ones who have passed on, and perhaps even rethink their roles in your life now that they are gone.

Ultimately, Coco is a movie about how we are connected to family members alive and dead. It’s about how nothing is more important than love. It’s about not judging a book by its cover, so to speak. It’s about believing in yourself, and following your dreams.

The film definitely contains more than a few important messages for viewers of all ages. But if deep thinking isn’t your thing, Coco will make you laugh (skeleton humor abounds), awe you with its vibrant landscape, and catchy musical numbers, and shock you with plot twists you can’t possibly predict.

But if you let it, this film will stay with you long after its closing credits scroll off the screen.

This year, BLACK ENTERPRISE celebrates the 45th anniversary of its roster of the nation’s largest black-owned businesses—the BE 100s. To commemorate the significance of this collective’s widespread impact on black business and economic development as well as American industry over four decades, we have presented 45 milestones moments. As part of this tribute, we continue our yearlong countdown.

Today we reveal No. 25 in the web series “Great Moments in Black Business.”

When Facebook set the price for its initial public offering at $ 38 a share five years ago, that provided the social networking powerhouse a valuation of $ 104 billion—at the time, making Facebook the largest U.S. company based on market value.

Five BE 100s firms—CastleOak Securities, Loop Capital, M.R. Beal & Co., Williams Capital, and Blaylock Robert Van—were invited to the dance. They were among investment banks that Facebook requested to take part in the historic transaction, according to BLACK ENTERPRISE reports. Prior to that offering, the last high-profile transaction of a Silicon Valley company had been the $ 2.7 billion IPO of Google—now renamed Alphabet Inc.—in 2002 with Blaylock Partners, one of the leading black investment banks at the time, serving as co-manager.

(Ronald Blaylock. Image: Black Enterprise Magazine; June 1998)

Biggest Tech IPO in History

The deal was colossal as Facebook was among the most-hyped IPOs of all time. It listed on May 1, 2012, raising just over $ 16 billion. Yet the offering was impaired with trading issues and questionable information-sharing accusations. Still, it became one of the largest technology IPOs in American history.

(Loop Capital CEO James Reynolds. Image: File)

Investment banks entered the game when they were among 25 additional underwriters asked to participate in the IPO about a month after an initial list of book runners were named. They included J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Barclays Capital. All told, there were 33 underwriters, according to ZDNet.

Facebook’s bid to minority and women-owned investment banks succeeded similar actions taken by General Motors and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. during their own IPOs. “Wall Street tries to do what looks good on high-profile IPOs, and it will not go unnoticed that Facebook has chosen to bring in minority underwriters,” says Scott Sweet, senior managing partner at IPO Boutique. “It’s not going to make or break the deal, but it will show that they’re not nonchalant about the opportunities that smaller firms can offer distribution-wise.”

Yet with Facebook and other IPOs, diverse firms only landed book runner positions. In contrast, their large Wall Street counterparts were recruited for the more lucrative lead spots.

Black Politicians Advocate for Black-Owned Firms

Reuters reported in 2010 that Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, disputed General Motors’ decision not to include any underwriters from minority- or women-owned financial institutions. The massive Detroit automaker ultimately added some diverse banks as underwriters, including Chicago-based Loop Capital and CastleOak Securities, both of which have been named BLACK ENTERPRISE Financial Company of the Year in recent years for their stellar long-term performance.

Two years after the Facebook IPO, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said at the 17th Annual Wall Street Project Economic Summit that it’s crucial that corporations stop locking out minorities on corporate boards and financial transactions. The civil rights leader founded the Wall Street Project in 1996 with the Citizenship Education Fund.

He emphasized that while a handful of minority firms were involved in Facebook’s IPO, they only collected less than 1% of the investment banking fees.

The Facebook IPO and Jackson’s actions, in part, served as catalysts for more BE 100s black investment banks to become involved in transactions with other iconic tech companies. Among the most notable: The participation of Loop Capital and Williams Capital in Hewlett-Packard’s $ 15 billion offering in 2015, enabling it to split into two companies, HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise; Loop Capital and CastleOak Securities serving as co-managers in a three-tranche, $ 3.5 billion bond offering of Apple. Inc. in 2016; and this year Williams Capital’s inclusion in the underwriting pool of the $ 28 billion IPO of Snap Inc., the parent company of the mobile app Snapchat—the firm, however, represented only one of two minority firms involved in the transaction.

Loop Capital’s Chairman and CEO James R. Reynolds told BE of such transactions: “For corporate finance, Silicon Valley is one of the biggest things that’s out there right now. Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Google, Uber…that is a frontier that’s huge.”

This year, BLACK ENTERPRISE celebrates the 45th anniversary of its roster of the nation’s largest black-owned businesses-The BE 100s. To commemorate the significance of this collective’s widespread impact on black business and economic development as well as American industry over four decades, we have presented 45 milestones moments. As part of this tribute, we continue our yearlong countdown.

Today we reveal No. 26 in the web series “Great Moments in Black Business.”

1981: Raymond V. Haysbert, Sr. and the management team of Parks Sausage Co, launched by the legendary African American entrepreneur Henry Parks, execute the first leveraged buyout of a historically black-owned company. After Parks Sausage declined under white ownership between 1977 and 1982, Haysbert and his team bought the company for $ 4 million, returning it to the BE 100s.

(Black Enterprise Magazine, Sept. 1996)

When it comes to taking a round trip in black entrepreneurship, probably few executives knew that voyage better than Raymond V. Haysbert, Sr. In a gutsy deal, while serving as CEO of Parks Sausage, Haysbert and his colleagues acquired the company after it had been controlled by white investors.

The cycle began in 1977 when H.G. Parks Inc. Founder and CEO Henry G. Parks sold his sausage manufacturer to Norin Corp. for $ 5 million, more than double its value on the NASDAQ stock exchange, as reported in BLACK ENTERPRISE. The transaction, very lucrative for Parks, was the start of a bleak period for the iconic company.

(Henry Green Parks, Jr. Image: Sept 1996)

The merger was not a good marriage as Norin was unable to continue its 25-year run of record profitability, largely hurt by rising operating expenses and withdrawal of $ 2 million in accumulated cash, according to a June 1981 BLACK ENTERPRISE article. “There was a certain amount of deterioration,” Parks told BE regarding control under what he called the “Norin Regime” during those years. “We had hoped it would have been a springboard to a bigger plateau-to expand the company beyond what we could do. But it just didn’t pan out.”

In 1981, after sales plunged, Parks Sausage was sold to Haysbert and other company executives who formed Parks Acquisition to amass the company’s $ 4 million in assets. The buyout came after Norin was acquired by Canadian Pacific, according to BLACK ENTERPRISE.

Among Haysbert’s greatest feats before his death in 2010 was running and owning one of America’s most successful black-owned businesses. Plus, he oversaw a leveraged buyout before most folks even knew what the transaction was.

He was recruited by Henry Parks, an original member of the BLACK ENTERPRISE Advisory Board, after the pioneering entrepreneur launched the Baltimore-based sausage manufacturer in 1951, Parks mortgaged his home to start the company and then struggled to succeed in the Jim Crow South. Parks and Haysbert teamed up in 1952 and began selling the meat products throughout the city. After suffering losses the first two years, Parks started cooking due to hard work and strategic focus. By 1955, the company grew to become a sponsor of the World Series. A decade later, it posted annual gross profits of $ 6 million by 1966 and $ 9 million in 1968. It was one of the first black-owned companies to go public in 1969.

(Image: Black Enterprise Magazine)

By 1973, H. G. Parks, Inc.-its official corporate name at the time-made its debut on the first BE Top 100 roster at No. 8, grossing $ 13.8 million in revenues, and remained among the 10 largest black-owned companies until its sale to Norin in 1977. A year after returning to black ownership, the renamed Parks Sausage Co. was ranked No. 29 on the 1983 Top 100, producing $ 19 million in gross revenues.

The company was a household name, famous for its jingle, “More Parks Sausages, Mom … Please.” By the mid-1980s, Parks Sausage was making about $ 30 million a year. Henry Parks would see his company return to its former glory before his death in 1989.

Haysbert became more influential during this growth period, serving on several boards of directors, including the Baltimore Federal Reserve. But by the mid-1990s, plagued by flagging sales and heavy debt, Baltimore’s largest black-owned manufacturer began to tumble. It was forced for the fourth time to seek a buyer. A deal to sell to two investors tied to TLC Beatrice International collapsed as the buyers couldn’t gain financing, Parks Sausage Chairman Haysbert told The Baltimore Sun in 1996.

The company’s balance sheet, with about $ 7.8 million in debt, made selling to any buyer a much tougher proposition. A new, big factory for Parks Sausage proved too great an expense for the business it was taking in. Haysbert, who then owned the company with his son Reginald, maintained that its finances grew worse since he moved the factory from its longtime home near Camden Yards ballpark to a fresh $ 16 million factory at Parks Circle in 1990. Plus, Parks Sausage lost Pizza Hut and Domino’s Pizza, two of its biggest sausage customers. Annual sales fell from about $ 28 million in 1990 to $ 20.5 million in June 1995.

After filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy and being forced to close, Parks Sausage was sold to former NFL great Franco Harris, the majority owner of Pittsburgh-based Super Bakery Inc., in September 1997 for $ 1.7 million. By 1999, Parks Sausage’s factory-not its name or product line-was acquired by Philadelphia-based Dietz & Watson Inc. Parks Sausage President Lydell Mitchell, the former Baltimore Colt star, told the media.

(Image: Black Enterprise Magazine, Sept 1996)

That sale ended the storied history of a celebrated black institution.

This year BLACK ENTERPRISE celebrates the 45th anniversary of its roster of the nation’s largest black-owned businesses—The BE 100s. To commemorate the significance of this collective’s widespread impact on black business and economic development as well as American industry over four decades, we have presented 45 milestones moments. We now resume this tribute with the continuation of our yearlong countdown.

Today we reveal No. 29 in the web series “Great Moments in Black Business.”

2003: Ariel Investments, No. 1 on the BE ASSET MANAGERS list and the first black money manager to launch a family of mutual funds, achieves an investment milestone when 17 major corporations select its mutual funds for their 401(k) plans.

Led by Ariel founder, CEO, and Chief Investment Officer John W. Rogers Jr., the firm broke new ground with that landmark achievement despite a hypercompetitive environment and greater compliance pressure from the newly enacted Sarbanes-Oxley legislation. Due to the relentless efforts of Rogers, Mellody Hobson, the firm’s president, and the rest of the team, Ariel snared new accounts while applying a value investment style to produce hefty returns for individual and institutional investors. The results: Assets under management grew in 2003 to $ 16.1 billion, an explosive 58% increase from the previous year.

(John Rogers, center, with Mellody Hobson. Image: File)

Rogers, listed among BE’s Most Powerful Blacks on Wall Street, has broken barriers in the nation’s asset management industry and helped paved the way for other African Americans to gain entry into a business dominated by non-diverse firms.

A New Approach to Investing

Like the tortoise of Aesop’s fable, he took a slow-and-steady approach to investing in undervalued small and medium-sized companies over the long term and has built wealth for investors, including millions of African Americans. It was an approach that was in contrast to many of his growth-oriented peers as Rogers would recount in an April 1992 BLACK ENTERPRISE cover story.

The journey for Rogers began in 1983 when he launched Ariel Capital Management, now Ariel Investments. In that 1992 BLACK ENTERPRISE article, Rogers, who worked more than two years for the brokerage firm William Blair, used a connection to gain his first account: $ 100,000 investment from the Howard University endowment fund. He also developed The Patient Investor, a newsletter describing his stock-picking philosophy —complete with a picture of a tortoise and the “slow and steady” tagline gracing its cover. Due to his performance, assets under management grew to $ 2 million by 1986.

(John Rogers. Image: File)

As Rogers built his mutual fund family—the first was Ariel Fund—he brought on Calvert Group Inc., a financial services company, in 1986 to serve as the distributor and transfer agent. Yet eight years later, in a bold move to gain independence, he paid $ 4 million to separate from Calvert and assumed responsibility for all operations. “We went from managing $ 2.3 billion to $ 1.1 billion over a short period of time, and it was extraordinarily uncomfortable and frightening,” Rogers told BE at the time.

Steering Through the Great Recession

Ariel persevered through such rough patches and learned valuable lessons from business volatility and severe market downturns, including the financial crisis in 2009. Rogers, an investment icon and former captain of the basketball team when he attended Princeton University, has repeatedly demonstrated his resilience. In 2010, Crain’s Chicago Business reported Ariel emerged from the financial crisis with its best performance ever.

The firm’s flagship Ariel Fund rose 56% for the past 12 months, beating the 38% average rise for rivals, according to investment rating firm Morningstar. Most recently, as of Sept. 30, 2017, the Ariel Fund produced an annualized return of 11.34% since its Nov. 6, 1986, inception date, according to Ariel’s website. That compares with the same period for the Russell 2500 Value Index, a 10.86% return for the Russell 2500 Index, and a 10.32% return for the S&P 500 Index.

With offices in New York and Sydney, the Chicago-based Ariel offers investors six no-load mutual funds and nine separate accounts, and as of Feb. 28, 2017, the firm reported assets under management of $ 11.5 billion.

Fierce Diversity Advocate

When not operating Ariel, Rogers and Hobson have been active in the business, philanthropic, and social fronts. For instance, Rogers, a board member of McDonald’s Corp. and Exelon Corp., and Hobson, who serves on the boards of Starbucks Corp. and Estée Lauder Cos., can be found on the BLACK ENTERPRISE Registry of Corporate Directors. As such, they represent some of the fiercest advocates for diversity in corporate governance.

Despite the milestone that Ariel achieved some 14 years ago, Rogers is still actively fighting for greater opportunities for black firms to gain access to opportunities to manage corporate, pension fund, and endowment dollars. According to a 2015 Wall Street Project Asset Management study released at the annual summit created by civil rights leader Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, minority firms have been unable to gain a foothold in a sector in which assets under management totaled a whopping $ 68.7 trillion and profits grew to $ 93 billion in 2013. Using data from the BE ASSET MANAGERS list, the study further revealed that top black firms manage a total of $ 118.4 billion in assets—a mere 0.3% of the total $ 36 trillion in domestic institutional assets under management. Rogers believes greater boardroom diversity will make the difference in the creation of a more equitable asset management selection process.

It is fitting, however, that Ariel has been able and will continue to break barriers in asset management, in great part, due to Rogers’ vision, tenacity, and investment prowess. In 2013, he was featured with legendary investors Warren Buffett, Sir John Templeton, and Benjamin Graham in the book, The World’s 99 Greatest Investors.

This year, BLACK ENTERPRISE celebrates the 4th anniversary of its roster of the nation’s largest black-owned businesses—The BE 100s. To commemorate the significance of this collective’s widespread impact on black business and economic development as well as American industry over four decades, we have presented 45 milestones moments. As part of this tribute, we continue our yearlong countdown.

Today we reveal No. 27 in the web series “Great Moments in Black Business.”

2002: With the acquisition of three Fitzgeralds casinos for $ 149 million, Don Barden becomes the first African American to wholly own a casino in the nation’s gambling capital.

Rising from meager beginnings to become a self-made multimillionaire African American entrepreneur, the late Don Barden was a trailblazer in America’s gaming industry.

First-Ever Black Vegas Casino Operator

Barden made history when one of his companies acquired three Fitzgeralds casinos for $ 149 million, making him the first black to own casino operations in Las Vegas. The transaction placed his gaming enterprise in the industry’s largest U.S. market and at the same time, broke barriers within the sector.

Barden added to his empire—he had already owned casinos in Gary, Indiana; Tunica, Mississippi; and Black Hawk, Colorado—by purchasing the Fitzgeralds properties from bankruptcy court. In fact, Barden used $ 14 million of his own money and raised $ 150 million from 40 institutional investors to seal the deal and upgrade operations.

The daring entrepreneur’s big gamble paid off. It bumped revenues of Barden Cos. Inc., placing it among the top 25 of BE Industrial/Service Companies in the early 2000s. Observers hailed Barden’s move as a major victory in bringing much-needed diversity to the industry. “It has the same ramification [for the Las Vegas gaming industry] that Jackie Robinson had to baseball,” Gene Collins, president of the Las Vegas chapter of the NAACP told the Las Vegas Sun at the time.” It opens all sorts of opportunities for African Americans because someone has to be first.”

First African American to Build an Urban-Based Cable TV Company

Making history was nothing new for Barden. In addition to being the first African American to own a casino corporation outright, he beat the odds by controlling multimillion-dollar companies in other industries that locked out blacks from ownership participation. As such, he would become the first black businessman to build a cable TV system for urban markets as well as a major player in commercial estate development over the course of his 40-year career.

He shared his deal-making philosophy in the BLACK ENTERPRISE book, Lessons From The Top: “I have learned to look for businesses that make money while I sleep. I like to acquire any business that doesn’t require an exorbitant amount of time and capital to turn it around. Yet, I want to be able to expand the core businesses. I have been able to do that with real estate, cable, and gaming. If you find viable businesses with solid management, you are not drained by the day-to-day operations. You can scope out other opportunities.”

The ninth of 13 children raised in Inkster, Michigan, he attended Central State University in Ohio with the goal of pursuing a legal career. But he ultimately turned to entrepreneurship. His first venture was a record store that he opened in Lorain, Ohio, at the age of 21 with $ 500 in savings. From there, he launched several businesses, including a real estate development firm, a nightclub, and a weekly newspaper, The Lorain County Times, in Lorain. He was also Lorain’s first elected black city council member.

(Barden featured in Black Enterprise magazine, May 1998)

By 1981, Barden bought an interest in a cable television station in Lorain and formed Barden Communications Inc. He expanded his cable system to include communities in his hometown of Inkster and the Detroit metro area, growing gross revenues from $ 600,000 to $ 91.2 million in a decade. By 1992, BCI earned the No. 5 position on the BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE 100 and BE 100s Company of the Year honors—for the first time. By 1994, he sold the company to Comcast Cable in 1994 for more than $ 100 million.

Two years later, he ventured into the casino gaming industry when he acquired and operated the Majestic Star Casino, a riverboat casino in Gary, Indiana. After an unsuccessful bid to buy a casino in Detroit, he acquired the Fitzgeralds properties. In 2003, BLACK ENTERPRISE named Barden Cos. as Company of the Year—the only entrepreneur to receive such recognition in two different industries within a 10-year span.

But not all of Barden’s ventures were proven winners. In 2009, the Majestic Star Casino was forced to file for bankruptcy protection.

Such setbacks, however, did not keep BLACK ENTERPRISE from heralding his myriad accomplishments. As part of its 40th-anniversary celebration in 2010—a year before Barden’s untimely death due to complications from lung cancer—it ranked him No. 21 on the roster of “Titans: The 40 Most Powerful African Americans in Business.” That same year, he also received the A.G. Gaston Lifetime Achievement Award, BE‘s top honor for business excellence. Barden left a legacy for being one of the most honored and respected black business leaders of his generation, and mentor to several generations of black professionals and entrepreneurs.

Binging your way through Stranger Things season 2 is an emotional, mind-expanding experience that may or may not lead to Eleven-esque nose bleeds.

Fortunately for us, the new season lightened the eerie mood with some very divine comedy. All of it was of course, very meme-able for superfans. If you’re looking for a recap of everything that happened in Stranger Things season 2 finale, we’ve got you covered. But here’s a quick rundown of some of the best moments from Stranger Things season 2 told through a very post-1984 medium: memes on Twitter.

1. We find out that Chief Jim Hopper rescued Eleven at the end of last season and she now lives with him in a cabin in the woods and enjoys Eggo towers. She hates that she’s not allowed to leave because it’s too risky, but this duo just works.

2. Dustin adopts a cute critter he names Dart who turns out to be a monstrous cat-killing demon, so Dustin puts on hockey goalie gear and tries to trap it. He fails, but when they run into each other in the finale, Dart remembers how much he trusts Dustin and loves his candy supply. So it decides not to kill him and all his friends.

3. We learn Eleven and Mike have been checking in on each other all the time since she took on the Demogorgon in the season 1 finale. When Eleven drops in on Hawkins Middle, she sees Max trying to get Mike to accept her into the group because he was not having it. Eleven notices Mike smile as he opens up to the idea of Max’s right to exist. This happens.

6. Thanks to a message from her mother Terry Ives, Eleven finally found and met her long-lost roommate Kali. In the seventh episode, she finds her in Chicago where she learns more about her powers and herself.

10. Eleven and Mike have a sweet Snow Ball reunion because good things come to those who wait. (At the same time, the master monster’s looming over the Upside Down version of the middle school, but this moment still wins.)

This year BLACK ENTERPRISE celebrates the 45th anniversary of its roster of the nation’s largest black-owned businesses – The BE 100s. To commemorate the significance of this collective’s widespread impact on black business and economic development as well as American industry over four decades, we have presented 45 milestones moments. As part of this tribute, we continue our yearlong countdown.

Today we reveal No. 28 in the web series “Great Moments in Black Business.”

1988: Berry Gordy sells Motown Records, which created “The Sound That Changed America” and held the No. 1 position on The BE 100s for a decade after its inception.

(Berry Gordy. Image: Black Enterprise Magazine, October 1970)

A high school dropout and factory worker who evolved into a phenomenal businessman, Berry Gordy built Motown Records into one of the most successful black-owned music companies in U.S. history. Its roster of timeless artists included Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, the Jackson Five, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Commodores and a myriad of other well-known acts.

For roughly 30 years, Gordy brought soul music to the mainstream. An “irresistible force of social and cultural change, Berry Gordy’s legendary Motown made its mark not just on the music industry but society at large,” according to motownmuseum.org. As such, the company grew into the largest black-owned business in the nation from the 1960s throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.

(Image: Black Enterprise Magazine; October, 1970)

By the mid-1980s, however, independent Motown Records was hemorrhaging money as it tried to survive in an industry dominated by multinational conglomerates that were gobbling up talent and market share. Among the major setbacks was the loss of major artists like Michael Jackson and Diana Ross to such labels as CBS/Epic Records and RCA Records, respectively. As a result of these industrial shifts, music industry icon Gordy was forced to sell Motown for $ 61 million to MCA Inc. and Boston Ventures Limited Partnership in 1988.

Paving the Way for Future Black Music Executives

Gordy kept other Motown subsidiaries including the highly profitable Jobete Music Co., and Motown’s film and television production unit, producer of TV specials like Motown’s 25th Anniversary in 1983 and the critically acclaimed 1989 miniseries, Lonesome Dove. In 1997, Gordy sold 50% of Jobete to EMI Music Publishing for $ 132 million, then viewed as one of the most significant music publishing deals ever. In 2003, EMI acquired another 30% of Jobete for $ 110 million and the remaining 20% in 2004 for about $ 80 million, ending Gordy’s stake in Motown.

(Suzanne de Passe. Image: Black Enterprise Magazine; June, 1974)

Before selling, Gordy was lauded as a talented songwriter and innovator who established a business model for entrepreneurs in the entertainment industry. Observers say Gordy helped pave the way for other industry giants like Russell Simmons and Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Gordy formed his empire in 1959, guiding its operations from a Detroit house known as “Hitsville U.S.A.” As BLACK ENTERPRISE reported in a series of profiles throughout the years, he started with an $ 800 loan he received from his family’s Ber-Berry Co-operative. The co-op was the brainchild of his eldest sister Esther, and it provided seed money for the establishment of Berry’s first record company, Tamla, in 1959. It became Motown Record Corp. in 1960. Beyond producing a series of hit records, Motown’s motion pictures division also broke ground; Its 1972 breakout film, Lady Sings the Blues, starring Diana Ross as Billie Holiday, garnered five Academy Award nominations.

Motown Debuts as a Black Enterprise BE 100

In 1973, BLACK ENTERPRISE started its annual ranking of the nation’s largest black-owned businesses, and Motown debuted at the No. 1 spot, grossing $ 40 million in revenues and holding that position on every list until 1983 when the company grossed $ 91.7 million in revenues. Motown lost the title of list leader in 1984 when Johnson Publishing Co., publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines and producer of Fashion Fair Cosmetics, took the top spot. Motown would make its last appearance on the 1988 list.

Under Gordy’s watch, Motown churned out hundreds of hit singles. In 1966, the company’s hit ratio, the percentage of records released that made the national charts, reached 75%-an incredible figure. Gordy was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, recognized for his musical genius.

Lifetime Achievement

In 2000, Gordy set up the Gwendolyn B. Gordy Fund to help former Motown artists, musicians, and writers from the 1960s and 1970s with financial assistance. He donated $ 750,000 to the charity, named in memory of his deceased sister, Gwendolyn.

Over the years, Gordy’s musical genius and entrepreneurial prowess also garnered numerous awards. In 2001, he received the A.G. Gaston Lifetime Achievement Award, BLACK ENTERPRISE’s highest honor for business achievement. Last year, President Obama included him among the 2015 National Medal of Arts recipients. The citation read: “To Berry Gordy, for helping to create a trailblazing new sound in American music. As a record producer and songwriter, he helped build Motown, launching the music careers of countless legendary artists. His unique sound helped shape our nation’s story.”

It’s taken eight years for AMC to reach the 100th episode of The Walking Dead, and I can’t help but feel a bit let down. Don’t get me wrong, it was an okay episode, much better than some that have aired in the past (coughSeason 2, Episode 4cough), though it didn’t stop me from being peeved by those dumb moments that just didn’t make any sense. I hope you can bear with me here while I rant about some of the parts that just annoyed me.

When Did They Suddenly Become Ninjas?

Okay, this was sort of a minor issue, but it still got on my nerves. In the beginning, we see Rick, Morgan, and the others stealthily take out the Savior scouts along the road. Now, I don’t have personal experience sneaking up on someone and stabbing a giant sharp stick into their back or anything, but I feel that it’s not as easy as they showed it. The scouts seemed like oblivious NPCs from like Fallout 3 or Skyrim the way they were so easily taken out; it was a little ridiculous. Throughout the series, I always had a major gripe with how silent and ninja-like the zombies are when they’re constantly sneaking up on people (I mean, really, they’re loud walking corpses 😕).

How Fast Are Those Zombies Anyway?

Their whole plan throughout the episode was to attract hordes of zombies to Negan’s base, overrun it, and basically render it defenseless. We can see Daryl, Carol and the Twizzler girl (Tara) setting off a bunch of explosions to get the horde trudging in the direction of Negan’s base. Now, it’s a pretty good plan in theory, however when you mix in a bit of The Walking Dead “reality” there is one flaw with it: zombies are freaking slow. Seriously this isn’t World War Z. It would have taken them weeks to get as far as they did. I understand there was a time jump, so maybe they’ve been attracting those zombies for a long time to prepare for the moment they carry out their attack. Yet I still feel like that wouldn’t make sense, I don’t think Rick and the rest of the gang would have spent weeks gathering all these zombies and consistently keep on attracting them until they were close enough to reach Negan. I guess I don’t completely comprehend how these walking flesh bags work in the show.

Aren’t Bullets Scarce as Hell?

There are too many scenes in this episode where they just unload a crap ton of bullets for no reason. There is the scene where Carol and her cronies sneak up (again sneaked) on some Savior by his car, then proceed to unload on the one guy when he hides behind his car. Then, when they have their little showdown with Negan (I’ll get to that later, trust me), when Rick decides to start shooting, everyone begins firing. They go crazy shooting at these windows in Negan’s base and it was completely baffling. I was thinking to myself, “What the hell are they shooting at?” and “Are the Saviors shooting back at them?” Please help me understand, because in such a dangerous setting where supplies are so low and rare to find, wouldn’t bullets be the first thing you would want to conserve? They must have gotten their hands-on Herschel’s infinite ammo cheat.

WHY DIDN’T RICK JUST SHOOT NEGAN!!!???

Seriously! The guy was right there the whole time throughout his freaking monologue and all Rick had to was a line up a shot then BAM, problem solved! Rick could have also hidden a marksman in trees or bushes to get a clear shot at Negan and then put a bullet in the dude’s skull. Now, I know that it would’ve been anti-climactic to just kill the archenemy in the very first episode of the season, fans would’ve been pissed off by that and I can understand why. Though this whole scene with them having their little stare down was just so ridiculous. I was just watching that scene carry out the whole time and yelling at the screen, “Do it! Do it, Rick! He’s right there! Just do it already!” I felt like I was channeling Shia LaBeouf. But alas it didn’t happen, and we now have to wait another 18 episodes of The Walking Dead for that to hopefully happen because Rick couldn’t stop to think how easily he could have taken him out.

I know it’s the first episode of the season and hopefully it picks up a little momentum. It’s just that this premiere was filled with a lot of annoying irritating parts that made it kinda hard to enjoy. However, I will say though that I enjoyed the future/dream moments of old man Rick. I thought they were well done and I’m excited on what they will plan to do with that plotline next. It’s just because of those other head-scratching moments that I don’t list this as a top episode in The Walking Dead series.

The new trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi is here, and it is dark. We have been expecting another intense installment for the centerpiece of this trilogy, a la The Empire Strikes Back, but who knew the advertising would tease so much potential loss and tragedy for the Resistence? Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) is concerned. General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) seems afraid. Rey (Daisy Ridley) looks torn.